art4moi

Eco Fun ......

2012-02-01T03:09:00.000-08:00

My friend Nat and I ventured up into the hills at Upwey last weekend to do an eco dyeing workshop with Jude Craig of Naturally Dyed. What a fantastic day!!!!
Jude is a very talented and generous person, sharing her home, her art, her supplies and her passion for eco dyeing with us.
The picture below is of Jude beside her piece "Miss Havershams Dress" (click for a closer look), it is wonderful in real life..... and the dressmakers dummy beside her is adorned with a rusty piece of metal (I think part of a wire base of an old bed). This is Jude's inspiration for work she is doing for an upcoming exhibition later this year with a couple of sculptors from her area.

We spend the first part of our morning being inspired by pieces of Judes art in her home and studio and then after Jude does a quick demonstration of her process we are let loose in the studio. Bundles of various eucalypts, wattles, prunus.....all types of flora there for our use. Wonderful rusty objects to be used.....coils, copper pipes, old car bits...a great collection. I am afraid I havent been able to upload most of my photos because blogger is playing up at the minute. Pop over to Nat's blog, she has lots of wonderful photos from the day!

One of the best parts of the day was when we gathered to unravel our bundles....to see what surprises awaited.

My piece on the left and Nat's on the right....drying on some metal pieces out in the garden. Glorious colours from onion skins, prunus and carrots (the dark piece on mine is from the metal it was wrapped around). This picture makes me think I might make some prayer flags out of some of this fabric.

So much fun and a very inspirational. We each made many, many bundles so I have a whole new stash of fabrics to use in my latest cloth. I dyed up silk velvet, silk lining from old kimono's, silk organza, wool flannel and felted wool (thank you Jillian) and some lovely threads....I'm all set for a while.

If you are ever in Melbourne check out if Jude is having a workshop.....Such fun!

IF SHE GOT REALLY QUIET AND LISTENED,

NEW PARTS OF HER WANTED TO SPEAK.

-SARK-

Enjoy your week!

Jacky xox

spoilt ......

2012-01-19T01:34:00.000-08:00

Such a lovely, unexpected surprise in my mail last week!!!! My online friend Robin has made up this little gift of wonderful hand dyed fabrics and ribbon for me. Beautiful old damasks dyed, lovely flocked organza's. I cant wait to use them. Amongst the fabrics were three of Robins beautiful scrappy moons (maybe they are flowers, rosette's.... to me they are moons) and a funky hanging heart! Thank you Robin for such beautiful gifts and your lovely words.

Close up of the funky heart and raggedy moons .....

Already one of the raggedy moons has found its way onto my cloth, click for a closer look. This week I have been stitching my cloth again....Horses are a big part of our life, so this Magic Pony made an appearance under Robin's beautiful moon. And above the moon, hovers a rainbow bird, another reference to Aboriginal art. (It is not quite finished in this pic. but he is in real life). Lots more stitching has been added to the background this week too as I have been following the TAST blog.....

Also, my dear friend Dot had organised to take me for a special lunch at http://www.heavengastrolounge.com.au/. We met early and went for a walk around the beautiful old gardens close by. It was a hot day, so we stopped and had a lovely cool Lemon Lime and Bitters in the gardens of an old beer house before we headed across to the restaurant.
Amazing food......delicate prawn fritters with Asian salad for entree, my all time favourtie Pepper Steak for main with the most subtle horseradish cream, leafy greens and wonderful baked potato cube. But the best was last... the lightest lemongrass pannecotte with fresh berries and lychees. Beautiful food and a day out with a lovely friend.... spoilt rotten.

Last weekend I spent the weekend with my lovely sister Lee. Part of my Christmas present from Lee was a one day workshop with one of my favourite artists Sarah Gabriel at the St. Agnes Homestead in Kyneton. Bliss.....make sure you click on the link to view her drawings and paintings...just beautiful and the most wonderful teacher. It was so nice to do the workshop with my sister Lee.

Lee and her husband have just bought a little house in Trentham (close to Kyneton) where we stayed, so prior to the workshop we visited some lovely shops, galleries and eateries close by. We had some lovely sister time. Pop on the link above to see some of Sarah's gorgeous art and then over to Lee's blog to see some photos of the homestead where we spent the day. Next post I will have some photos of the class to share (and maybe a snippet of our art).

WHEN I LET GO

OF WHAT I AM,

I BECOME

WHAT I MIGHT BE.

LAO TZU

Enjoy your week.

Jacky xox

still making marks......

2012-01-09T23:07:00.000-08:00

Most evenings this week I have managed to do some stitching for my cloth for the Magic Diaries with Jude. Slow, meditative, simple stitching ....... I am still taken with a lot of the mark making I see in aboriginal art and I am continuing with that in this piece below.

The connected circles.... a recurring image in many pieces of aboriginal art and my raggedy star, representing a night sky.

I am also taking part in Peggy's Moon making over here.....the above moons on the left side of the fabric were made by using a paste resist and then dyeing in indigo which I learnt in a workshop with Ro Bruhn. These moons will find their way onto my cloth soon.

A snow themed tag to Tag Tuesday which Carlolyn Saxby is hosting.

GO TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE,

AND THE RESOURCES WILL FOLLOW.

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Gathering ......

2012-01-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is done and dusted for another year. I hope your Christmas Day was as happy and peaceful as mine.....it was perfect. Lovely company, yummy food, lots of laughter...so good.

Our Christmas Table ...before we messed it all up.

Today I began gathering together all of my patches and samples I was stitching last year when I joined in the Magic Diaries 1 with Jude Hill. because today I begin Magic Diaries 2. It was time to bring together some of my pieces and begin the process of melding them into my quilt. It was nice to have them out, to feel the weight of them, to touch the stitching....to imagine what it might become.

Gathering the elements ....The cirlces....inspired by Judy Martin

The Woodland Spirit inspired by a trip to Switzerland and the woodland and trees below inspired by Jude. The marked cloth at the back inspired by Aboriginal art, mark making.

Not sure what the layout will be as yet, but it has helped laying it on the table to take a look at what might work. There are more naive stars in the making, more little marked stitched squares as fillers and I think I might make some more of the cirles...lots to think about.

close up stitched tree shapes and embroidered winter tress. The little fabric scrap with the trees and house were gifted by a friend in in WA. It reminded me of homes I saw in Switzerland.

Welcome to 2012 .... Expect Wonderful Things to Happen!

Jacky xox

Joyeux Noel .....

2011-12-24T04:55:00.000-08:00

Little glimpses of Christmas in my home .......

The presents are gathering under the tree.

Some of my favourite ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Some of my collection of Santa's

My sweet little dog Oakey looking festive on the quilt.... he's 16 now....such a beautiful old boy.

Thank you all for popping by my blog this past this year.

I wish you all PEACE, HAPPINESS, LOVE, GOOD HEALTH, JOY, PROSPERITY & ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD.

EXPECT

WONDERFUL THINGS

TO HAPPEN.

Have a most wonderful Christmas!

Jacky xox

Quietly stitching....

2011-12-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

I have enjoyed a peaceful, quiet weekend. Lots of stitching, just simple, methodical stitching but I love the effect. The two pieces I have been working on were both inspired by Judy Martin. I love how Judy 'makes marks' with stitch...so I have been mark making on this little cloth I started for Norma.
The background fabric is indigo dyed (on a recent trip to my friend Nat's) and some of the threads were dyed by her friend Lynda...the lighter coloured thread she eco dyed. I love stitching with it, such a beautiful neutral colour. You will also see a few thread beads in there, Jude Hills influence. Over the past few years Judy and Jude have inspired many cloths.
Another inspiration for this piece was Australian Aboriginal art. I love aboriginal mark making and I'm always drawn to the repetitive style of some of their work...be it dots or lines, it tells a story. This really appeals to me and I am going to make a series of these cloths.

When visiting Judy Martins blog this weekend she had posted a wonderful tutorial on making reverse applique dots. This little nine patch uses the method in her tutorial, but I think I used a bigger spool than Judy. The first few were quite untidy (stitches showing), but I refined them as I went along. I am very happy with this little nine patch with dots...thank you Judy. Again I used some of the fabric from my indigo dyeing with Nat, the colour is quite washed out in the photo though.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the festive season.

GO TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE,

AND THE RESOURCES WILL FOLLOW.

-SARK -

Jacky xox

fabric and linocut ......

2011-12-07T00:23:00.000-08:00

No post for November!!!.... I've had a very busy time of it lately. As you may know from previous posts my MIL has been very ill these past two years. Sadly she passed away last week .....she will be missed in many ways, one of them being that she has been a large part of my creative life. Always encouraging me to paint and sew. She was never scared to try something new, she encouraged me to try lots of things I would never have been brave enough to do without her nudging me along (ever the procrastinator). I have begun a cloth, marking it with stitches, in memory of Norma. No pictures today, but I will share it with you soon.

Even though I have been busy I have still been doing a bit of art. I recently got together with my art friends Ro, Dot and Patsy at Ro's home and we did some fabric printing...lots of fun and Ro shared her fabric printing technique with us all, showing how to make our own prints from bits and pieces we all have around our home. I was very happy with the fabric printing I did on the day and will make sure it goes into a special cloth. Some of these pieces were using a stamp I had myself on the day and others with stamps that Ro had made earlier. Isnt the effect wonderful!!!

I have also been doing a bit of printmaking lately. I took part in an exhibition with a couple of my art friends, Meg Abrecht (painter and printmaker), Regina Dudek (jewellery and sculpture) and Nic Perrin (oil painter). Will share some photos once I upload them. I carved and printed quite a few whimsical birds for this exhibition with my "Sunshine Owl" being my inspiration. Below is a little owl linocut print, approx. 3 inches x 4... I have named him "Whoot". He was the simplest and smallest of my pieces, but I loved his simplicity and he came up well framed.

I hope you are all enjoying your preparations for the festive season. I love the Christmas season, everyone is in such a happy and generous frame of mind ... the world is a nicer place. I intend to get all of my Christmas decorations up this weekend (normally I have them out by the 1st December...bit slow this year). I love decorating the house for Christmas.

I will be back soon with a photo of my new cloth.

ENJOY A TINY

ADVENTUROUS MOMENT,

CLOSE TO HOME.

IT CHANGES YOUR PERSPECTIVE,

REMINDING YOU THAT THE WORLD

IS DEEP AND RICH AND FULL OF

COLOR AND MIRACLES.

-SARK-

have a wonderful week.

Jacky xox

Mrs. Moody .....

2011-10-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

Meet Mrs. Moody. I have always loved Lynne Hoppes art work, particulary her faces (portraiture). Recently she had a tutorial on her blog (sept. 20th) to explain the process she uses to create these wonderful characters of hers. I've been meaning to have a play and today was the day!!!
Lynne uses mixture of pencils, oil pastels, gouache, watercolor and many other mediums (she's very brave) and she very generously explained exactly what we needed.
Back in 2009 I was in an altered book Round Robin. I found an old book, "The Greatest Thing in the World" by Henry Drummond and sent if off. The problem was there were only four of us participating in the RR, so there were still MANY empty pages. I decided this book was perfect for me to practice faces.
Mrs. Moody came about due to a reference on the page I used of the 'Messrs. Moody '....
Lots more practice needed, but I loved incorporating the oil pastel, gouache, watercolours etc. Lots of fun, smooshing them around, smearing and generally having fun... thanks Lynne.http://lynnehoppe.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Moody. (click to enlarge)

I have been haunting the Opportunity Shops (charity shops) lately too. Finding some old books and fabrics. A couple of weeks ago I found this lovely still life painting.....I am quite taken with still life. Of course I had to buy it ($50). I just love it and have it hanging in my bedroom. I think it will be in the lounge room soon, where I can see more of it. It is oil on hardboard by Ellen Mileo (1934-2006) a real TREASURE for me. I am trying to find out a bit about the artist.

"Cyclamen and pomegranates" by Ellen Mileo (oil on hardboard)

I have been doing some crochet too. I've been enjoying crocheting this scarf for a friend of mine ...arent the colours glorious. They make you happy ....and it is coming along quickly as I'm always wanting to get to the next colour in the variegated ball of yarn.

crocheted scarf.

Thats all for the moment. I know I've been away from my blog for a while, family commitments make it hard sometimes, but I am still quietly creating when I have the time. It's great therapy.

BE SILLY

BE HONEST

BE KIND

Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Bye for now,

JACKY XOX

a star and a spirit ....

2011-10-03T04:51:00.000-07:00

Today I met with my patchwork friends (first Monday each month). We've been meeting for over 20 years ....quite often lately there's a lot more chat than stitching!
I follow Jude Hills blog and have been doing the Magic Diaries workshop. I've been a bit quiet on the stitching front for a while, so I thought today was a good chance to pick up my cloth again and get a bit of stitching done.

I have always admired Jude's wonderful story cloths and the non traditional way she often approaches her quilt making. I have always loved patchwork stars, so I began with a primitive style eight point star..just eyeballed the points and then invisibly basted (all as per Jude). I was happy with this relaxed version of the eight point star. Still lots of stitching to be done....that can come later and at this point I have quite a few patches completed. Maybe I need to start thinking about the size and placement of these patches?

When I was visiting my son in Switzerland last year I started this piece.... my sunflower spirit. Often my husband and I walked through the amazing woods near my sons home...there must be spirits live in those woods, they were so magical. After one such walk my little spirit was born. Still a bit of stitching to be done on her.

I think she will fit in well with my cloth. I am sure there will be more spirits and beasts to join her soon.

LIVE IN THE SUNSHINE,

SWIM IN THE SEA,

DRINK THE WILD AIR.

-EMERSON-

Jacky xox

Settling stitch ......

2011-09-11T00:46:00.000-07:00

Things have been a bit hectic and out of sorts for the past month or so....very little stitching and art being done. I decided I just needed to do a little stitching to settle myself, ease back into my cloth for the Magic Diaries workshop with Jude Hill.

It worked well.... I ripped some fabric, cut out my little version of a harvest moon and began stitching. So thereapeutic, it slowed me down, gave me time to think. Teeny little stitches, fraying edges.... I love to stitch.

This weekend my friend Dot and I had offered to 'babysit' our friend Patsy's exhibition. Such a vibrant and happy exhibition. It was a dreary winters day outside, cold and windy and quite a bit of rain....eveyone who popped in to see the exhibition was warmed by Patsy's beautiful artwork. Beautiful array of paintings, art quilts, handmade bags and journals. Very inspiring...I am itching to paint again.

I'm wondering what has happened to the glorious spring weather we've been experiencing lately. The last few days have been bitterly cold and wet....I woke to more rain and coldness this morning...stoked the fire as I had to go out for the morning. By this afternoon though we had glorious sunshine again. I bought these beautiful Waratah's (I plan to do a painting of them) to brighten the lounge room. So beautiful.... I smile each time I catch a glimpse of them. Click on the above link if you want to know more about these beautiful flowers, the floral emblem of New South Wales in Australia.

Have a great week, nature is wreaking havoc all over the world, so I hope you all stay safe.

THE tiniest STORY IN YOUR LIFE CAN DEEPLY TOUCH ANOTHER.

YOU CANNOT KNOW THE EFFECT YOUR STORY MIGHT HAVE.

-SARK-

JACKY XOX

Friends & Felting Fun ......

2011-08-15T04:33:00.000-07:00

I received the most beautiful surprise in the mail last week. Leanne Pizio (Paintergirl) had sent me a package with some gorgeous japanese fabrics and hidden amongst them a box with this treasure below inside....one of her ceramic lotus pods. I was blown away by her generosity...for years I have visited her blog admiring her wonderful ceramics (especially with bird and owl images) and paintings. I still cant believe I now have some of her art in my home...it is even more beautiful in real life. Heartfelt thank you Leanne for this lovely gift.

Ceramic lotus pod with beautiful turqoise glaze inside.

And another lovely friend Dot gifted me some beautiful kimono silks and thread to add to my stash for my Magic Diaries cloth.....yummy. These will fit in very nicely thank you Dot.

Dots birthday tomorrow, and we usually organise a creative day or workshop to celebrate our birthdays. This year Dot invited myself and our friend Nat along to a felting day at Elizabeth Armstrongs studio. Elizabeths studio is an Aladdins Cave of colour and texture...my creative mind goes into overdrive when I enter her studio. Below is the scarf I made on the day.

Nat took the photo below (on her trusty iphone) of me and my scarf in progress on the day. Pop over to Nats blog to see the amazing scarf she made on the day and some more photos of Elizabeths studio.

Today I have been doing more linocuts .... working on a special project and this week I will be doing more on my Magic Diaries Cloth....incorporating my new fabrics, playing around with a little 'beast'.

NEVER FORGET

EVERYTHING AND

EVERY PERSON

THAT HAS A PLACE

WITHIN YOUR HEART

-SARK-

Have a creative and happy week.

Jacky xox

Tearing and stitching .......

2011-08-07T23:36:00.001-07:00

I have been enjoying tearing fabrics and stitching this week....enjoying the relaxed pace of the Magic Diaries workshop I am doing with Jude Hill. The pace is relaxed, the stitching gentle and the interaction with Jude and other cloth mates is just lovely.

I am enjoying working with the earthy tones below...very Australian colours (fabrics...one is a vintage japanese kimono fabric and the other a hand dyed fabric from my recent trip to Thailand).

my stitching this week

The torn strips were for my fabric weaving and I have added the stitched moon. At the moment this block is just basted down, but more stitching will appear as this cloth evolves. I dont want to add too much stitching/embellishing as yet as I'm not sure where this is going and will add more once it has grown a bit and I can see the story more clearly.

I have noticed that quite a few of the cloth mates have incorporated their own symbol for this quilt....something personal to them. I have decided to make the above heart (without Jude's feather) my personal symbol for this quilt. This stylised heart shape is one that I found I use repeatedly in my journal, so I thought that as this quilt will also be a type of journal I will stitch a version for this quilt and repeat it throughout.

I do love fabric weaving and the torn edges give such an organic look to cloth. Again I have used the old kimono fabric and the hand dye from Thailand. I enjoyed stitching the ragged cross stitches in my moon, reminds me of the stitch used in boro cloths to strengthen a cloth.

sweet bird song

While I was stitching away yesterday I could hear the most beautiful bird song outside (click for a closer view). This fellow was serenading me outside my kitchen windown...having a wonderful time! It was nice to stand and watch his antics for a while....I think he is quite the extovert warbling away, loving having an audience. I might have to sketch him later.

Off to work again tomorrow....I count down those three days until I am home again and stitching/painting.

Jude has been talking about edges these past couple of weeks, so I thought this quote from Sark fitting...

DANCE

THE EDGES

OF NEW

BEGINNINGS

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Winter Sunshine......

2011-08-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

The 'beginning' .... my first block stitched for my Magic Diaries with Jude. For weeks I have been procrastinating, drawing up ideas, selecting fabric stashes, but I hadnt put needle to thread. I am happy with this little nine patch, loving the way stitches show through to the front, the fabrics...the grey and the centre patch are fabric from Thailand and the other a natural linen. Now I have started, I am itching to do more!

The 'beginning'

Reverse side of 9 patch taken in the dappled morning sunlight.

Someone else was enjoying the winter sunshine this morning....this is Minnie. We havent seen a lot of sunshine lately so she was making the most of it.

Being winter I am enjoying crocheting some scarves....I visited the Tarrawarra Gallery at Healesville on the weekend to see the Archibald Winners Exhibition. Wonderful portrait paintings...awesome in fact. The winning portrait this year was of one of Australia's most well known painters, Margaret Olley. Sadly she passed away last week, so it was especially poignant to see this exhibition and remember this beautiful, talented lady.
After the exhibition my sister and I did some wandering around Healesville and I bought these lovely wools . The Charcoal is for my sister and the two variegated (arent the colours yummy!!!) wools for my friends twin girls who will turn 9 at the end of the month.

I am keen to stitch more on my latest quilt, so in my travels this weekend (this time I was over in Geelong seeing an exhibition by local printmakers) I found these vintage fabrics in a little shop. A couple of kimono's and old scarves. These will come in very handy and may find themselves in a dye pot soon.

I bought a new long line vest today .....I only noticed the sunshine heart when I got home.....so I'm sending you some sunshine....

Enjoy your week....I plan to stitch .....

MOST OF ALL,

LOVE YOUR SELF.

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Indigo Moon in nature....

2011-07-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a chilly week down here.....it must be snowing somewhere close by! I popped outside the other night to get some wood for the fire and noticed this beautiful indigo moon...what gorgeous deep black/blue sky colours and that softly, glowing moon.

I love seeing the trees all naked, seeing their intricate branch patterns. The picture below is a view of the farm in winter, through the crazy willow.

Meg is back from her trip to Greece (and feeling the cold back home after three months of warmth). It is lovely to have her home and to be back in her studio with the other girls drawing/painting/chatting/sipping tea/eating lemonade scones. I have missed those Friday mornings while Meg has been away.

Today we did some little pen drawings (15cm x 15cm) using pattern as our background. This is my little work in progress. I love drawing with pen and ink...very relaxing. I really enjoy making all the little patterns and designs ....filling the page with dots and dashes. click for a closer look.

While I was in Thailand I bought this beautiful silk runner / wrap. Click on the photo to see all of the beautiful kantha stitch and the lovely little fringe. This piece is approximately 2m long x 75cm wide and double sided. Imagine all of that stitching!!!! I am going to use this piece as a table runner for special occasions.

This is the reverse of the cloth.... they use quite contrasting (and vibrant) colours on each piece. I loved the beautiful muted colours on the front of the cloth...and I am getting used to the brighter turquoise/purple on the back.
I got this cloth out this week to inspire me as I have been thinking of stitching and fabric quite a lot as I am taking part in the Magic Diaries with Jude Hill. I have been getting pieces of fabric together, threads, fragments from older work. I have been writing down, and drawing up, lots of ideas. I am enjoying the process.
This workshop takes place over the next six months. I love the longer class format, the feeling that there is no rush, just letting things happen as they will.

BE STILL

AND LET THE BEAUTY COME

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Winter wattle .......

2011-07-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

It's one of my favourite times of year....the wattle is starting to bloom down here in Australia.....brightening up some dreary winter days. Once the wattle begins to come out, I know that the days are getting longer, the weather is beginning to become milder....spring is on it's way.

bunch of winter wattle to brighten the lounge room

Our exhibition has been and gone....such a wonderful time. It was amazing to see you art hanging, to have such positive comments. It was so lovely to be part of this exhibition with these four lovely (and talented) women. L to R Julia Dean, Patsy Worledge, Dot Christian, myself and Ro Bruhn. The photo's below are thank you to Ro's lovely husband Steve who took photos for us all over the weekend. I have borrowed these from Ro's blog....pop over to visit her and see more.

Julia, Patsy, Dot, me and Ro.

view of the room with our art hanging.

Melbourne turned on a beautiful, clear winters weekend for us. Below are some photos taken on our walk to and from the exhibition over the weekend.

Flinders Street Railway Station and one of Melbournes iconic trams.

Dot in Hosiers Lane. We loved to walk through the lane on the way to St. Michaels and take in the street art.

Part of the "Forum" building. What gorgeous architecture!

Melbourne in Winter.

And what have I been up to since the exhibition???? Art wise, not much at all. I seem to have needed a little break. A bit of journalling, but not much else. I have had visitors though. My MIL Norma came down for the opening of the exhibition and stayed for a while afterwards. Today my some arrived home from the USA for a weeks holiday with us....love having my boys at home!

I am taking part in Jude Hills latest online workshop.... The Magic Diaries.....so there will be some fabric being stitched soon. I am also going to do a bit more linocut printmaking. I love that process and want to do more of it.
My friend Meg, whom I paint with most Fridays is still away on her holiday in Greece (3 months....lucky girl). But, she will be back soon and I will get back into my painting again.

OUR LIVES ARE FILLED WITH GORGEOUS MOMENTS
THE SMELL OF CLOTHES DRIED IN THE SUN
IS ONE OF THOSE.RELAX, AND LET MOMENTS LIKE THESE SEEP INTO YOUR SOUL.

-SARK-

Have a wonderful week.

Jacky xox

Embroideries and Exhibitions......

2011-06-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

Whilst away in Thailand I drew up some little images, inspired by art and nature that we saw. I had taken a little travel pack with odds and sods of fabric and threads. These raggedy little pieces of fabric were small samples from a dyeing class I took last year...waste not want not....I knew they would come in handy one day and they were perfect for sketching up these little stitcheries. I have been busy stitching them this week and I will put them into a cloth soon.

AND, great excitment. My art group are holding our first exhibition of our work in Melbourne later this month. Of course....YOU'RE ALL INVITED! It would be lovely to see you there...we girls always have such fun when we get together, so come along and join us if you are in Melbourne that weekend.

I will leave you with the beautiful of photo of lotus flowers that I took in Jim Thomspons garden in Bangkok. The home and gardens of Jim Thompson are sooooo beautiful, make sure if you are ever in Bangkok you take a visit...some quiet time to feed your creative soul. Lee and I were there for hours.

I hope these photos have worked OK this time. This is the second time I have uploaded.....last time part of each photo was missing....fingers and toes crossed.

LEAPS OF FAITH

PUT US IN

ASTOUNDING

NEW PLACES

-SARK-

Have a happy week.

Jacky xox

Beautiful Thailand.....

2011-05-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed....I've been away from my blog for a while....I meant to find time before I left on my holiday to Thailand to do a quick post. But, time just flew before my holiday. Extra work to do at home, painting and stitching to do in readiness for my art groups upcoming exhibition...I just ran out of time.

My lovely sister Lee took me to Thailand for a ten day holiday to celebrate our birthdays this year (our birthdays are only two days apart). I had never really holidayed in Asian before, and I was in for a treat!

First we visited Bangkok for a few days. We took in so much art, visited many markets and malls (will have to cover them in another post). But, for me, the best part was our week in Chiang Mai. A beautiful city, still having very much a country feel compared with Bangkok ....and very friendly and beautiful people.

We stayed at the Chedi in Chiang Mai and I would recommend it to anyone. Below is the first view I had of our hotel as we arrived in our taxi...hopefully you can click on the photo to enlarge. Wonderful architecture and decor. So many things I would have loved to pop in my suitcase and take home.

Entrance to Chedi Hotel

Each morning we wandered down to the restaurant to have a lazy breakfast down by the river. Considering we were right in the midst of Chiang Mai, it was so lovely and peaceful....and of course the food was yumbo.

Breakfast area under the tree by the river.

We found many nooks and crannies where we sat and sketched, read our books, just lazed around. It felt good to slow down and relax...nothing like going away with your sister!


Me relaxing in one of the areas on the upper verandah of the old Govenors residence (restaurant at hotel)

This was another favourite spot to sit and sketch, and we did have a few cocktails. Lee told me that Gin and Tonic wards off Malaria...so of course we had to have one of those most days (purely medicinal). Our favourite drinks though were the Virgin Mojita's....we refreshed ourselves with quite a few of those during our stay.

Yet another spot to sit and relax alongside the floating lotus pool.

Whilst we were away, it was Mothers Day in Australia. So we promised our families that we would have High Tea and the Govenors Residence....another yumbo experience. The little chocolate pots were unbelievably good!!!

Chocolate pots served with our High Tea.

Quite a few afternoons were spent under the fans under the verandah partaking in tea or light refreshments. We took along our sketch books and sat sometimes for hours just talking and sketching. I just loved the green, green grass and the lovely black bark of the trees.

View from restaurant across to our room (behind the pots and big tree).

And this is my gorgeous sister Lee. We were having an early dinner before we headed off to the night markets later (of course had to buy goodies for our family and friends at home).

Lee under verandah.

We were blessed with beautiful weather. Lee and I visited many galleries, saw some wonderful art (I cant tell you how many cards I bought so I would remember the artists and galleries!!!!). I have tried to upload some photos into a mosaic to share with you, but not able to do that yet, but thought you might like a glimpse of what I've been up to since my last post. I will try and upload some photos of the art and architecture soon.

No art to show this post, but I have been busy since I arrived home. Will take a few photos soon. Lovely to be back and I will be catching up on blogs soon.

TREASURE TIME BY MUGS OF TEA

-SARK-

Sending much love....

Jacky xox

Sunny weekend.....

2011-04-18T05:17:00.000-07:00

It was a bright and sunny autumn weekend in Melbourne.....after the rain of recent weeks, the sunshine was glorious. We all wanted to get out and about in it!
Below is another version of the sunshine owl lino cut I have been working on. A few additional handcarved stamps placed after masking and printing and a touch of colour applied to the tree and sun before printing. It's fun playing around with this owl.

Sunshine owl

On Sunday I met up with Dot, Patsy, Ro and Julia. Our outing into the city was to check out the venue where we are having our art group exhibition. We always love a chance to get together and this weekend was very special as we celebrated Ro's birthday...see her goody bag and flowers.

After visiting then venue and making plans we wandered around the streets of inner Melbourne, deciding where to eat. In the end we went into Chinatown......very BUSY little street, lots of wonderful eateries and shops. Lovely place to visit and eat on a sunny Sunday.

We all just loved the window adornment in the little eatery where we lunched. The food was absolutely YUMBO, lovely and spicy. After our lunch we strolled around Chinatown and of course found a little shop with some Japanese art goodies......we were very happy.

I have been stitching a little boro cloth. Wonky bits of fabrics scraps stitched together in the Japanese way.

Japan has been on all of our minds lately and we have all wanted to help. I found this lovely blog where Maki has been making and selling these beautiful little birds to help her family and friends in Japan....what a lovely way to donate and support an artist. I bought six little fellows to share with my art friends.

Busy, busy, busy.....

2011-03-30T05:17:00.000-07:00

I've been busy lately....lots of things on the go!
Last weekend I had my get together with Nat to do some of our shibori class homework. We are both doing the workshop with the lovely Glennis Dolce and loving the results of our samples. Great online class. These are some of the samples I made with Nat last weekend. This time I have used the indigo dye rather than a few colours like my last effort. I would like to include these pieces in a boro cloth I plan to start later this year.

I have also been painting....my art group are putting on a little exhibition at the end of June, so I need to get into some painting and get things happening. The work below is using artists gouache....still a WIP, needs some finer detailing, but close to being finished. As you may be able to tell, I love still life and a quite naive style.

Lillies and chinese ginger jar

I've also been doing some linocut......Below is a piece called 'Sunshine Owl' (of course I had to do an owl, my favourite). Sunshine Owl is approx. 12" x 13". I have plans for this owl.... I will add more detail to the background maybe....and later .........more plans for him. You never know where he'll end up.

"Sunshine Owl"

I want to hand colour my final prints so I have played around with different colours and colour variations on the sample below, just to get an idea of what will or wont work together....lots of fun!

I've also had fabric out, playing around with different options. Will play around a bit more and maybe have something to show you next week.

Meanwhile I hope you are all busy creating.

LET MIRACLES FIND YOU

- SARK-

Jacky xox

Shibori moments ......

2011-03-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

As I said last week, I am participating in a shibori workshop with the lovely Glennis Dolce....it is such FUN!
Last Sunday I met up with my fellow classmate Nat to do a few class projects. I know I'm starting from the wrong end...but couldnt resist showing you my shibori pieces drying on the line. They look like prayer flags I thought, so I've decided I will use a few of my class samples to make myself a set of shibori prayer flags to remember this workshop.

Shibori samples drying on the clothes line.

Getting organised.....we made up our dye bottles, had our instructions/recipes at the ready and collected a myriad of shapes to use for our shibori dyeing. Then the fun began.

Here we have our little dye baths with our fabrics all folded, clamped and soaking. It's so exciting...you just dont know what to expect.

And these are some of the results...very colourful and I was very happy with some of the designs we achieved using mosaic tile, cut up CD's etc. (some may need a little overydying next time the dyes are out, I'm not sure if I can work with the turquoise....but you never know!).


The top piece is one that Nat had eco dyed (using either gum leaves or bark...sorry cant exactly remember which), but they had not coloured very well. Thus we thought we'd do a bit of over dying and see what happened. This was the result of being dyed in a leaf green dye bath...very happy with the results and the different colour.

Nat and I plan to get together again in a couple of weeks and do more dyeing, its so much fun doing the class with a friend....nutting through things together, sharing ideas and bit and pieces of fabric etc.

EACH DAY IS A SUCCULENT NEW BEGINNING

BE STILL AND LET THE BEAUTY COME.

- SARK -

Not long now until the weekend.....

Jacky xox

Altered book.....

2011-03-12T01:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had our Art Group get together. This time it was DotS turn to host and we all lunched at the lovely La Bel Amici cafe in Frankston....this cafe is owned by an artist and has such a wonderful bohemian feel. Beautiful food and surrounded by gorgeous art. What better place for us all to meet. As usual we shared art we had been making, fabrics, collage elements, arty goodies. It is always like Christmas when we meet...such generous girls.

As you know we are doing an Altered Book Round Robin and each meeting we swap books so we can each work in each others book. The pages below I made for Ro's book. Ro's theme is Africa (and at first I was quite daunted. But once I got going things just flowed.)

Ro loves colour!!!!! So I thought a colourful elephant would be perfect for her book. I have a lovely wooden elephant whom inspired the spread below for Ro. I am loving this naive style of painting.

This is the full two page spread. I left a little of the wording from the book showing through.

This is the second spread I did for Ro's book. It has more of an African feel. I really enjoyed doing a little collage on these pages and loved the images of the young African boys singing.

Our group doesnt meet again until early May and in the meantime I will be working in my friend Dots book. Another one who loves colour, so this will be FUN.

Meanwhile I am doing a shibori workshop with Glennis Dolce, so Ishould have a few new fabrics to share with you and include in my art. Dyeing day tomorrow!

Meanwhile..... IMMERSE YOURSELF IN COLOUR....it will make you happy!

Jacky xox

Sunflowers and Indigo ....

2011-03-05T00:32:00.000-08:00

My friend Nat and I are soon to being a shibori dyeing workshop with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl)....in readiness we decided to have a dyeing day last Sunday. Nat is a very proficient dyer...I am quite new to it, so it was lovely to have Nat teach me more about dyeing with colour (procion, rit etc.). I have done a bit of eco dyeing using gumleaves,onion skins etc. but LOVE indigo and especially shibori, so I'm very excited that our online workshop begins this week and I dont feel quite so intimidated after Nats help.!

My fabrics all folded after their dye bath, rinse and dry. I'm very happy with this little stash.

My fabrics once dried....we used indigo and a leaf green. We used cotton voile, calico, linen, silk, silk chiffon, silk noil...lots of different colour variations which I am looking forward to using in some of my Jude Hill style cloths.

And now for the sunflower...... This is a WIP from my day at Megs. At this point sketched in pencil with a touch of gouache. I will add more gouache and some pen and ink. I am enjoying sketching from nature and think I will do a little botanical journal. My friend Coral and I have made some concertina style books using good quality watercolour paper for this next project.

And this little sketch I drew after visiting the Mirka Mora exhibition earlier this year .... I was inspired by the womens head dresses in a few of her sketches and I thought of the five girls in my art group all gathered around admiring Mirka's work....taking in every detail, discussing, enjoying being able to share the moment.

So......this week. I am getting to the end of my online workshop with Jude Hill, will have some work to show soon and I begin my shibori workshop with Glennis. Another full week!

"WE CAN LOVE OURSELVES

THE WAY WE WISH TO BE LOVED"

Have a wonderful week!

Jacky xox

sketching and journalling....

2011-02-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

This week there hasnt been much stitching going on....I have have my fabrics out playing with some blocks to send off to a friend, but mostly I have been sketching, a little bit of painting and a little journalling.

Most Friday mornings I go to a friends studio and we sit and paint....very relaxing. I have learnt a lot about drawing and painting since I began these mornings at Meg's. Each time we go Meg has a theme, or a still life, or maybe just a colour for us to draw/paint. It challenges me each time, and I'm sure I wont be able to do it, but with Meg's gentle prodding and some perseverance we get into it. The last couple of weeks we have been working on these sketches of agapanthus from Megs garden in an old vintage jug. I thought you might like to see some of what we work on so here are a couple of close ups of the piece (30 x 42 cm).

Agapanthus in vintage jug.

The finished piece....not perfect, but I'm getting there

I think those gentle blue/mauves are beautiful and as you can see from my journal have been appearing in my art these past few weeks. Even in my fabrics, I love those demin type blues too and of course indigo.

But, I think this blue/mauve phase is over. This week at Megs we had to draw this amazing sunflower. Such details in this beautiful flower as it shows signs of aging. Click on the photo to see the intricacy of the centre....its like a swirl of tiny flowers. At this stage I have only drawn this up and added a little yellow to the petals. I am using gouache for this sketch instead of watercolour as I used in my previous sketch. Will take a pic next week to show you my progress.

Van Gogh was renowned for his sunflower series, so after the day at Megs I did some reading up on Van Gogh ...he lead a rather tortured life, but produced the most amazing paintings. Van Gogh is said to have liked sunflowers for their yellow colour and exuberant celebration of sun light and summer. They are a very likeable flower....I think I will plant some in my garden next summer.

I hope to have some fabric work to show you again next week too. Tomorrow I am heading off to my friend Nats home for a stitching/dyeing day. We are both doing Jude's CWB workshop online, so looking forward to seeing what Nat has been doing.

BE SILLY

BE HONEST

BE KIND.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson -

Have a wonderful week!

Jacky xox

Valentines Hearts ......

2011-02-15T00:55:00.000-08:00

I've been stitching these 'raggedy hearts' for a few friends for a Valentines Day swap. I've used some lovely old battenburg lace from an old doiley of my mums, Some sari silk and lovely floral embroidered sheer fabric that I have been hoarding forever. The hearts themselves were old linen blend fabric samples. Lots of recycling and stitching fun.

The fabrics below are from a workshop I did on the weekend with Ro Bruhn..... gelatin prints. I loooove gelatin printing and it was so much fun creating different patterns and colours. We used anything and everything....old egg cartons, bubble wrap (one of my favourites), indian print blocks, stamps, embossed fabrics and papers...FUN class and I look forward to including these fabrics in some cloths soon.

The past few weeks I have also been taking Jude Hills online workshop, Advanced Cloth Weaving. I made the little cloth below weaving without a foundation. You finish with such a light and soft piece of cloth. Initially I was thinking I would use this piece (all fabrics gifted from my friend Dot and sister Lee) in a boro cloth I intend to make this year. But, after visiting the class site and seeing what everyone is doing...I'm not sure. Jude has made a beautiful cushion, others incorporated the pieces in clothing, boro style. So much to see and so much inspiration as always in Judes classes.

Close up of small boro type cloth.

I havent been able to post much lately...as you know, I'm not so good when it comes to things computer related at times. We put a new antivirus on our computer which has been blocking me posting pictures to my blog. Finally worked out how to fix it, so should be back to normal again now.

ONE SHOULD ABSORB

THE COLOUR OF LIFE

-OSCAR WILDE -

Wishing you all a wonderful and colourful week.

Jacky xox

Mirka Mora....colour......

2011-02-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

I've been offline too long...... combination of family visits and also blogger / computer issues. Recently my friends Julia and Dot visited the Heide Gallery to see the Mirka Mora exhibition. What a treat!!! Such a vibrant, exciting artist. If you live in Melbourne this exhibition is well worth the visit and they have so many other wonderful artists exhbiting in their three galleries at the moment. "Angel Fishing" 2004 courtesy William Mora Gallery.

courtesy William Mora Gallery.

The Heide Gallery originates from an old dairy, built in the 1880's-1890's which was purchased by John and Sunday Reed in 1934. The Reed's were passionate supporters of Australian art and culture . Artists were encouraged to live and work on their property....quite a bohemian lifestyle from all that I read. This group of artists became know as the "Heide Circle". Mirka Mora, after immigrating to Australia from France often frequented Heide and much of her work in this exhibition was gifted to John and Sunday. It was lovely to visit her exhibition in the home that so many noted Australian artists and herself had painted and lived. Gave the exhibition a more intimate feel.

I have been doing a little stitching....after visiting Kaite's blog I made some blocks for the Queensland Flood Victims. I am hoping these bright and cheery fabrics will brighten someones home. Queensland is having such a terrible time of it lately, first the floods and now cyclone Yasi.

I have had a visitor down from Queensland recently also. We visited the Daylesford area, so will have some lovely to upload and share soon. Many beautiful galleries and artists in that area of Victoria, so I cam home abuzz with inspiration.

BE STILL
AND LET THE BEAUTY COME

-SARK-

Have an enjoyable week.

Jacky xox

Found it......

2011-01-09T03:42:00.000-08:00

The collage of our painting day missing from previous post......
Jacky xox

Painting day fun....

2011-01-09T02:35:00.001-08:00

First I have to share a picture of my new baby...... isnt he beautiful! This little fellow was born on Wednesday. What a beautiful surprise to see him standing in the paddock as I left for work Wednesday morning....He is only just standing for the first time in this photo. A birth, a new baby is always such an uplifting experience. Now.... the painting day! On the 8th Jan. our little art group had our first get together for the year at Patsy's home. We were going to paint BIG, and paint big we did. Not one cloth, but two...we were prolific.

This is the second cloth, cut into 5, so we could all make our own personal cloth to take home. This picture was taken from Julia's end of the table. We began by all painting a base cloth and then each person personalised their own piece.

This is the lovely Patsy getting all the paints prepared for our freestyle painting experience.

This is the first cloth we worked on. After a little trepidation we all really just let ourselves go (as you can see!!!). Such a wonderful feeling painting with such freedom...quite cathartic. It was the hottest day we have had for the summer I think. We were all hot and sweaty, but no-one cared, we were in the zone.

As you can see much more paint added here to the finished piece. Dot and Patsy helping in transporting to Patsy's studio to dry our banner. Circles seemed to be the theme...nothing preconceived...they just appeared and we went with them.

Of course none of our get togethers are without a little feast. Dot, Julia, Ro and Patsy (L to R) ready to eat. The food was most scrumptious and plenty of it. I did a little collage of our feast but have lost it in cyberspace somewhere.

And as usual there has been some stitching happening...more to my angel cloth (hope you're not getting too bored with it). I promise it will be finished soon and I will move onto something else! Click on the photos for a closer view if you like.

I hope you all have a wonderful week...lots of stitching and painting.

EVERY HEART SINGS A SONG

-PLATO-

Jacky xox

Embrace the New Year ....

2010-12-31T23:08:00.001-08:00

I hope you have all celebrated the beginning of another new year, in fact a new decade. We saw the New Year in with friends and family, having a quiet chat and a few drinks...very relaxing and most enjoyable. We were at home in bed by 12.30. Ahhhh.... we must be getting old. But at least we stayed up to see the New Year in. Amongst all the festivities of late, work still goes on on the farm. We had more hay baled yesterday, so the boys have been busy. Everything is still quite wet on the farm, so to date we have only been able to bale the silage. It is a very late hay season, with only intermittent hot spells.

Peace Angel cloth

I have been finding time to sit and stitch a bit more to the Peace Angel cloth. I just seem to keep adding a bit more to it each time I sit down to stitch...it is growing steadily.

A close up of some of the stitching on the trees and a few more trees pinned that I think I will add. It's been a peaceful, lovely time of year to stitch this cloth...no rushing, just picking it up when I have a minute or two. That's what I love about slow cloths.

LIVE IN THE SUNSHINE.

SWIM IN THE SEA.
DRINK THE WILD AIR.

-EMERSON-

Enjoy and embrace all that the New Year brings.

Jacky xox

Christmas Cheer ......

2010-12-22T21:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas is nearly here....I am enjoying the preparations (although as always I could do with a bit more time), and I am so looking forward to sharing the day with my family.

Last weekend I caught up with my friend Dot for lunch on Sunday at the La bel Amici Cafe in Frankston for lunch...beautiful cafe, very arty and wonderful food. The picture below is of one of their Christmas decorations...isnt it gorgeous! I am thinking I might try and make one next year! I think that would look very special hanging above the dining table. Below is a little Christmas wreath I decorated with some fabric scraps and a little festive owl. This little fellow was made a gift to my friend Nat. He looked very smart adorning her Christmas tree...filled with beautiful handmade hearts and other decorations.

I visited Nat on Saturday and she taught me how to make the little Christmas wreaths below from a plant in her garden (of which she very generously gave me a cutting....so watch out friends, you may receive one of these next year).

My friend Dot is making a little quilt a la Jude Hill/Rebecca Sower style. I made these three blocks for her to include in her quilt.

And I have been working on some Christmas trees....thank you Jude for the wonderful little tutorials recently. I have since done quite a bit more stitching and plan to finish this piece over the Christmas break. It is part of my cloth "Peace Angel".

It has been a wonderful year....so many new adventures for me with cloth and also with my painting. I have met so many lovely people online and made some lovely friends.

I wish you all a Christmas filled with the wonder and joy of the season and look forward to catching up again next year.

CHRISTMAS IS THE GENTLEST, LOVELIEST FESTIVAL OF THE REVOLVING YEAR.

- W.J. CAMERON -

sending you all a jolly red hug!

Jacky xox

Festivities, but still stitching....

2010-12-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

Lots of festivities at this time of year! Busy, but such fun. These little festive owls were part of my gift to the girls in my art group.... Dot, Patsy, Ro and Julia.

Saturday I caught up with the Art Group girls for our Christmas lunch at the Bunyip Kitchen...as always the food was SCRUMPTIOUS and the company wonderful.

We exchanged gifts.... The beautiful heart danglie was a gift from the lovely Ro , made from her gorgeous fabric/paper. Glorious colours and already taking pride of place on my mantle piece. The gorgeous hand towel underneath was a gift made by the lovely Patsy...my favourite Kaffe Fassett fabrics and such beautiful sentiment. You will notice I have taken most of my photos on Patsy's beautiful creation.

This gorgeous needlecase was made by the lovely Julia of Verdigris Rose...just stunning. Such beautiful colours with lovely teeny-tiny beads...very special and already being put to good use. Pins and needles have been transfered.

inside the needlecase

And from Dotee a quirky little handstitched christmas ornament....Leunig style? I do love quirky and whimsical and this little fellow is hanging from the Christmas tree...very proud of himself. Also received a lovely mug and special serviettes (soon to be used in a journal no doubt!). All once again upon Patsy's lovely appliqued handtowel.

The lovely Dot sent us this mosaic of our day out and about....see what I mean about the food and the company....click for a closer look (hope it's clickable). There is such a buzz when we all get together. We love catching up!!!! We share art, we share our lives, we laugh a lot.

As I said...... I did do a little stitching.......

WE ARE ALL GIFTED.

INSIDE OF YOU ARE TREASURES.

-SARK-

jacky xox

Primitive, Naive ...

2010-11-30T01:38:00.001-08:00

I have been having a wonderful time lately painting a couple of spreads in an altered book I am doing with the girls from my little art group....Julia, Dot, Ro and Patsy (still blogless).

I have recently been inspired by Katherine Dunn. I bought her book, "Creative Illustration Workshop" and have been blissfully reading through and taking in her wonderful primitive style art. The pages below were painted for my friend Patsy... she is a gorgeous, vivacious, fun loving friend and these pages seemed to flow so easily with her in mind. "Peace Carriers" (inspired by Katherine Dunne and Haitian art).

The full page spread.

A little blue bird of happiness, trailing along behind the Peace Carrier.

"Peace Keeper"

For these pages I first painted an undercoat of black gesso and then painted with a mix of acrylics and gouache ( I do love the pigmentation of the gouache...rich, strong colour). I have also used pastels and ink and some collage here and there.

I really love this naive style, both in my painting and my stitching...I am having fun with it! Jude and Judy have showed me the way with cloth and Katherine and Lynne have showed me the way with paint.

And....there has also been a little stitching. Not much... but a bit. I am working on Christmas gifties (as usual I am running a little late), cant show them yet.

Over the weekend I went to my friend Nats art exhibition opening....wonderful day... pop over to Nats blog to see photos from the day. Lots of indigo and cloth, wonderful basketmaking and bookmaking....

MOST OF ALL,

LOVE YOURSELF.

-SARK-

Sending love and colour.

Jacky xox

Happily stitching....

2010-11-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

A weekend at home ....bliss. I've been doing more blog visiting than creating lately! It's a bit too easy to spend hours visiting wonderful blogs and then not leave yourself enough time to play around !

After a visit to Storycloths blog, I was reminded of a book I had purchased by Janet Bolton whose fabric art I have always loved. If you pop over to visit Storycloth you will see she has made two of Janets lovely angel cloths . This inspired me to get out my book again and have a play....below is my very rustic version of these angels. Click for a closer look...you will note the pins and needles....more stitching to be done tonight. This little cloth is approx. 4" x 8". I am wondering whether I will make a pair too. Whatever, I am having fun stitching my version! And this gorgeous little fellow below is the owl I recently received in a swap with Robin Olsen...I do so love him. Very funky isnt he
and I love the colours she has chosen for me." William the Wise" by Robin Olsen.

Above and below ....how did I manage to do this and I havent found a way of deleting one of the duplicates!!!

The images are from one of the Collage Boxes that Lawendula is sending around the world. Each person takes between 12-20 pieces from the box to use at a later date in their art. They then replace with images etc. from their own stash and forward the box to the next person. I have chosen my pieces and will be sending the box on its way again tomorrow. Such a fun swap, thanks for organising FM.

And finally a bit of dyeing from my recent efforts...and I must tell you that recently I havent been having a huge amount of success. Many insipid looking pieces coming out of the pot. I thought I should show some as my friend Nat is an avid dyer and always keen to see what I have been up to.

The two below I was quite happy with. The first piece with the natural colours was done by steaming leaves in some dupion silk (they werent native leaves, sorry I dont know the name). At the same time I had also steamed some soft cotton the same way. The silk took the colour quite well, but the cotton just looked dirty...a project to overdye down the track.

The one with the pinkish tinge was from steaming some found fuschia flowers. I was very happy with that colour, but dont know if I will wash again as it seems to lose colour each time I wash/rinse. I used a small piece of kimono lining silk for this one. These pieces will be nice to include in some cloths at a later date.

I hope you have all enjoyed a creative weekend too and I look forward to visiting my favourite blogs to see what everyone has been up to.

WAKE UP TO SEE THE OTHER SOULS AROUND YOU.

LET THEM AFFECT YOU.

-SARK-

Jacky XOX

Wise little owl .....

2010-11-12T01:08:00.001-08:00

A wee little owl I stitched a couple of weeks ago...it's a long time since I made one of these owls. This little one is winging its way to the USA for a swap I've done with Robin (an inspiring textile artist). I will post a photo of the owl she sent me next post.... I was in Dubbo last week with my mother in law Norma. While she was in town visiting her optometrist we visited a couple of 'op shops' and I found these! Very happy with the little indigo cotton jacket, soon to become part of my boro quilt. I love the fasteners and I will find a place for those in my quilt I think.
Found lots of little lace doilies and lovely embroidered pieces for 25 cents each. I have a couple of projects in mind for these.

My friend Maureen has just returned from a visit to India...this is one of the many beautiful quilts she bought home with her. Such lovely fabrics and details.

There was such a beautiful sky the other night, so I thought I would share it with you. The clouds seemed much brighter and pinker in real life, so lucky to live in such a beautiful area.

GREAT ACTS

ARE MADE UP

OF SMALL DEEDS

- LAO TZO -

Enjoy your week.

Jacky xox

Progress....

2010-11-02T00:38:00.001-07:00

Indigo gifts..... my sister and her family recently visited Malaysia and knowing my love of indigo fabrics brought me home these lovely indigo dyed fabrics from Chang Mai. The colours are not represented too well in this photo...they are not quite so bright...very inky indigo colour and lovely denim coloured blue. There's also a snippet of a beautiful japanese shibori cotton gifted to me on our basket making day by Nat. These are the fabrics I have been using for my fabric basket. Indigo gifts.
Remember these baskets...you can click to enlarge this time. That is my base at the very front.

I've been making progress....the sides are growing....it will soon be finished.

I've been busy sorting some fabrics today. I *needed* to do some sorting, things were becoming a MESS. I have sorted my fabrics for dyeing in one tub, my indigo/japanese fabrics in another, my sari silks/velvets etc. in another. I think I need more tubs!!!! It was fun. I love handling fabrics.

Some fabric dyeing has been taking place at my home this weekend....not terribly successful, but there is always the chance to overdye. I will post about this another time.... Visit Jude's blog and see the wonderful pieces she has dyed.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY.

IT'S AS SIMPLE AND AS DIFFICULT AS THAT.

-LEUNIG-

Have a great, creative week!

Jacky xox

fabric fun .....

2010-10-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

I have been having fun with fabric these past few days. My friend Nat had my sister Lee , her friend Linda and I over for Sunday lunch and a day of fabric play....Nat taught us how to make fabric baskets. I have long admired Nat's fabric baskets (see the two finished baskets below...just two of many...if you click on this picture you might be able to see the miniature baskets Nat has made also!!!!
Nat's finished baskets and the beginnings of our first baskets...front my base, left Lee's base and right one that Nat started to demonstrate the technique to us.

On the day, I didnt quite complete my base, but since I've been home I have done a bit more stitching....quite addictive, but I must admit that my fingers are a bit sore from 'pushing' the needle through. I am using a selection on indigo dyed fabric that my sister recently bought me back from a trip to Chaing Mai in Thailand and some japanese indigo strips from Nat.

And here is our *teacher* Nat busy stitching away on her base. We had a lovely lunch, and chatted non stop all afternoon. It was so nice to sit and stitch with a group of women, I havent done that before..... we felt a bit like the Amish women, gathering to stitch ....lovely way to socialise.

I love the Japanese and indigo fabrics, but also have a real soft spot for the lusciousness of sari silk. These gorgeous fabrics were purchased from my friend Julia Dean (Verdigris Rose). Julia has some wonderful packs she is selling in her etsy shop...great value and beautiful fabrics.

A few of you have asked about my son and how he went at the World Equestrian Games.....fantastic!!! Australia came 7th out of the 28 countries that competed (we had never before made the top 10 teams and thus it was our first time in the Team Finals. Matt and Espirit had a fantastic final round jumping clear for Australia....our only team member to jump clean in the final....very proud of Matt and Espirit. The above photo is of Matt and Espirit in the Warm Up arena. I think they both look very dapper with their Australian Flags.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

Love the animals

Love the plants

Love everything

Dostoyevsky

Jacky xox

Friends...Fun....Laughter...

2010-10-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I've caught up with a few of my art friends...lots of fun, laughter, beautiful food, art and of course sharing. The first pics. are from the Art Journal I worked in for Julia for our Round Robin Altered Book in our little group of 5.

Mixed media pages for Julia's journal above.

And these are some of the girls (Julia, being the photographer is missing) L-R Patsy (no blog yet), Ro, myself and Dot.

Lots of fun was had.....the above is Patsy at work printing/stamping after we had a little stamp making session with Ro. Some wonderful designs and backgrounds came out of this little play session.

Julia got us all outside with fabrics and paints, collecting leaves for some sun dyeing too. That was fun!!! No photos or the results, but there should be soon. I decided to steam my bundle ...bit of a flop...turned out a slimy mess. My fabric is now wrapped around the branch of a tree in the garden to see if I can get some colour happening! Will let you know how I go.

I dont know what's happening with blogger today, but twice now photos I uploaded are not appearing. I had some lovely photos of the delicious meal we had at Julia's....but they are somewhere in cyberspace. For some great photos of our day out visit Julia's blog, she captured it all. She was the hostess with the mostest...lovely, inviting home, scrumptious food and lots of fun things to look at *play* with.

Last weekend I caught up with my other art friend Nat and Dot again. Dot had arranged for us to visit the Convent Farmers Market...oh yumbo!!! As you can see from the mosaic above we had a great day. Fantastic fresh produce...beautiful cheeses, olive oils, olives, yarns, fruit and veg, bread, cordials...we bought it all (and we're enjoying consuming it this week). Click on the photo above to get a better look at us enjoying the day in the sunshine.

ONE SHOULD ABSORB THE COLOUR OF LIFE.

- OSCAR WILDE -

There has been a little stitching and fabric play happening...will save that for another post.

Enjoy your week!

Jacky xox

Hello .......

2010-10-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my trip to Switzerland....and very slow getting back into blogging.....

My husband Paul and I had the loveliest time visiting with Matt and looking around Switzerland. And..... yes..... Matt did get selected for the Australian Team to ride at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky (I'm very proud of him). Both he and his dad are in Kentucky at this moment...it all happens very quickly once you are selected for the team. Competition starts to day and finishes next weekend.

I had to share this photo of Matt and I taken on our visit to Lucerne. Please indulge me.

Matt and I at Lake Lucerne.

I did actually get some stitching done while I was away (not much as you will see). You may remember this piece below from my earlier post....just a bit more stitching now. Each time I walked in the woods near Matts home I imagined little spirits that lived in the woodlands and thought I would put them into stitch...this is the beginning of my little Swiss Spirit cloth. A sunflower sun as there were fields of beautiful sunflowers and everyone seemed to have sunflowers in their gardens...huge sunflowers....such fertile soil

, and the little woodland spirit. A woodland spirit.

I've also added to my beast cloth....little embroidered butterflies and more fabric......

The Hare of Tonimbuk

And I've even managed to get to a lino-cut/printmaking class with Helen Timbury since I've been back. Lots of fun and a few more 'hare' inspired lino-cuts to be made soon. I do love printmaking.

Now this one is for Jude....what a woodstack. On her blog Jude has been talking about stacking wood, so I thought she would enjoy this (click for a closer look). There were beautiful woodstacks everywhere in Birr where Matt lives and I took quite a few photos of them...they really appealed. I will be doing a post later featuring all these amazing woodstacks. This one was on my walk up to the woods....

And here I am in the woods....I loved the filtered sunlight, the beautiful trees and undergrowth...so different to our Australian bushland. There was miles and miles of amazing tracks... so peaceful....

The woods and tracks were so beautifully kept.

I miss those walks....maybe I will have to visit again soon?

I hope I havent bored you with my *trip* photos...but I just wanted you to see a bit of the Switzerland I saw...and of course a little bit of art.

EXPECT

WONDERFUL THINGS

TO HAPPEN

Jacky xox

Hello from Switzerland ...

2010-09-03T02:32:00.000-07:00

Finally mastering my sons computer, so thought I would do a little post after our trip to Lucerne this week. What a beautiful and picturesque city....amazing architecture, medieval city, the gorgeous Lake Lucerne and we had the most beautiful weather.

Paul and I at lake Lucerne

The beautiful city on the river with lovely *old* bridges.

The Flower Bridge as I called it, but know as The Chapel Bridge...this was constructed in the early 14th century...coming from Australia, which is such a young country, this is just amazing. Click for closer views of the photos.

Matt and I at the end of the bridge...the flowers in this country are beautiful.

Yes, I did bring some art suplies with me. My trusty journal (which I might add I havent been doing nearly as much in as I planned). A couple of small pieces of fabric, muslin and some dyed fabric and a few threads to play with. There are the most beautiful woods close to where my son lives and my husband I walk up there most days....I am so inspired by these woods and dreaming up mythical maidens who live/lived in these woods, so thought I would do a stitchery inspired by them...as I dont have much fabric with me, they will be small but intricate.

I am soooo wishing I had a dye pot here...after seeing lots of posts on eco dyeing etc. I would love to try some on the finds from the woods here.
My son lives and competes in Europe as a Showjumper. I took this photo of Matt (left) and Paul (hubby) when they had finished riding on the arena the other day. Each day they ride out....sometimes up to the woods, sometimes training on the arena. Lovely to see them both together and enjoying their horses.

Paul and I are over here to be with Matt at the Selection Shows for the World Equestrian Games....he is one of 10 Australian's over in Europe at present for the selection shows to try and get a place on the Australian team (four riders and 1 reserve)...

Prada

This is the barn dog.... Prada. Each morning at about 9.30 - 10 she comes up to Matt's flat and sits with me while I stitch, read, get online. She is lovely company and at this moment is asleep beside me on the couch. We should both be out in the sunshine though...so I'd better finish now.

Will post some photos of the woods and the beautiful things I have seen over the next few weeks.

Loving my time in Switzerland with my son!!!!

LOVE IMPERFECTLY

- SARK -

Enjoy your week!

Jacky xox

Magical classes ......

2010-08-09T02:52:00.001-07:00

As you know I've been taking part in the "Patchwork Beasts" online class with Jude Hill. What a fun and magical time it has been...its like creating your own little fairy tale in cloth and thread. I found it difficult at times as these 'beasts' need faces ..... with Jude's coaxing and patience as a teacher we all came up with some wonderful 'beasts'.
Below is one of my pieces from the classes...still a work in progress. Lots of embellishing, details to come, to bring the story cloth to life. My inspiration was my kitten (6 mths). She's so cheeky and inquisitive, but quite the little lady. She loves to sit out in the sun in the garden. I've used some old linen I dyed with onion skins a while back, some old indian sari silk for the cats body and tail (bit slippery to stitch, but love the softness). The japanese fabric was a gift at my last art get together from Patsy and some beautiful floral embroidered fabric I've been hoarding for ages (as I cant get any more). Much more to come on this piece though.... click on photos for a closer look.

Jude taught us how to sketch up the faces and them embroider, give them character and personality, let the story begin. Absolutely fantastic classes... thank you Jude.

Dot and Nat at the Spud Shop.

Delicious spud (under all that yummy topping....how healthy were we?) Dont you just love Nat's beautiful bag that I used as a backdrop???

We were out and about in Melbourne. Took a quick trip into Ziguzagu to check out their latest shipments of vintage kimono silks and cottons from Japan. Such a fantastic shop, you can shop for hours and not see half of what's on offer. Dont forget if you're in Melbourne to look up this shop...well worth the visit.

Below is a patchwork pieced horse using some kimono fabrics. I want to make a wall hanging with an oriental theme incorporating this piece. Maybe I will piece some 'Chinese Coins' and 'Chinese Lanterns'. Love the indigo colours which I will use in this piece.

These are some more of the beautiful prints I found at Ziguzagu when I first visited. I love the fabric swatches and think they will look fabulous framed.

Now, for some exciting news. I am off to Switzerland next week. My husband and I are heading over to stay with my eldest son for 4 weeks. Will be a lovely catch up and I will be on the look out for some Caran D'Ache crayons/pencils (Switzerland being the home of Caran D'ache) and also some fabric????

Wake up to see the other souls around you.

Let them affect you.

Live in the center of your Life.

-Sark-

Sending love.....

Jacky xox

Long time no see......

2010-07-27T05:16:00.001-07:00

It seems like ages (and it has been) since my last post. Our internet connection, via the satellite just stopped!!!!!! I have really missed being able to connect with my online friends and being able visit all of your wonderful and inspiring blogs.

Another problem with being offline for four weeks was I had signed up for some great classes with Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth and was unable to get to the class forum....its been fun catching up though and seeing what everyone else has been up to.

This piece I created as part of my Spirit Cloth Class. It is called "Ro's Moon" as the beautiful felted moon was a gift from my dear friend Ro Bruhn and became the inspiration for this piece. Click for a closer look.... just love this felted moon. Ro has more of these on her blog if you want to pop over to take a look. "Ro's Moon"

This piece also contains some other special pieces gifted from friends and bought online....beautiful hand dyed silk ribbon, a gift from Dot. Beautiful indigo dyed fabrics bought from Glennis (Shibori Girl).

Another little patch I stitched to add to Ro's Moon. I have decided to make a small quilt/wall hanging using various moons that people have gifted me. I have a delicate hand turned moon from Jude, a Penny Moon from Glennis and I'm sure I will find more fabric pieces I have been given with moons or lunar themes for this special piece.

Oops...this photo is upside down..... doesnt matter, shows the two pieces together. Not sure if they will stay that way or whether they will be separated later when assembling this little wall hanging.

The Beast plan....

The latest class I am doing with Jude is called "Patchwork Beasts". I am well and truly behind in this class but here is little beastie I drew up. I've since cut it out in fabric and begun stitching...not going too well. Not a great choice of fabrics to try and hand stitch I've decided. I am persevering and will have a photo later...hopefully finished and embellished! Also have some other creatures/beasts on the go. Dont know where this class will lead to...its a fun journey!

And....a few paintings in progress. I MUST make some time to finish a couple of these. The two larger background ones are in gouache on watercolour paper, lots to do to these two yet, and you will remember the pomegranates...got to get those watercolours out again.

Lovely to be back and I am trying to catch up some blog visiting.

WE FORGET HOW MUCH OUR LOVE MATTERS.

WE THINK WE TRAVEL UNSEEN IN THIS WORLD.

ACTUALLY, WE ARE ALL ACUTELY AWARE OF EACH OTHER.

***SARK***

Sending much love....

Jacky xox

Art friendships....

2010-06-21T04:52:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we had our art group get together (we must think of a name for ourselves) Ro, Patsy, Julia, Dot and myself . It is always such a happy time when we all gather. Lots of talking, sharing art, eating, drinking...merry making. The time just flies. We are so lucky to have these beautiful friendships. Check out the girls blogs for some of the beautiful art they bought along for show and tell.

This time we met at the Bunyip Kitchen and Vineyard which is only 10 minutes from my home. A place a visit regularly (perhaps too regularly). It is very rustic and soooo welcoming.
John and Janelle are the owners and they really take care of you. Lovely local Gippsland produce, Janelle is an amazing cook and treated us to a lovely meal with wonderful local wines.

We gathered on a cold and rainy winters day and Janelle cooked us up a feast......entree was scallops served in the shell with a beautiful sorrel sauce (we soaked up every bit of that sauce with their home made bread...deeelicious), next a piece of roasted eye fillet with a bearnaise type sauce, potato and onion au gratin and the most beautiful creamed spinach topped with fresh blanched spinach all fresh from their own garden. Yumbo!!!! We were all complaining we were so full, do we need dessert? Then out came the most amazing cherry cheesecake (you had to taste it to believe how good it was) and chocolate amoretto cake. Well, we had to try both with our coffees. I dont know how it happened, but five hours passed before we knew it!!!!
Standing L-R are Patsy and Dot and sitting L-R are Julia and myself...admiring Patsy's amazing, intricate art. Sorry...not photo of Ro this time.

The Bunyip Kitchen and Vineyard

Show and tell....the slow cloth (still a work in progress...I dont know how bit/small it will end up).

Some beautiful iron work at the Bunyip Kitchen.

We are all doing an altered book round robin...these pages are from Ro's book. These girls are all so talented. It will be such a keepsake having some art from each of these ladies in our books when this round robin is finished.

spread from Ro's altered book.

Visit her blog to see more photos of our day out. Both Ro and Julia have done wonderful posts (and I have *borrowed* a couple of photos from them for this post). So much more to see on theirs though.

The yummy cherry cheesecake.

And our chocolate amoretti cake swimming in chocolate sauce and cream.

A few more of the lovely old book plates I found at Ziguzagu. I think they will come up beautiful framed.

And for Dot....the sisters, Minnie (who you met last post) and her sister Mouse. Such lovely girls.

A bit of a bits and pieces post, I hope you enjoyed it.

WE ARE ALL GIFTED.

INSIDE OF YOU ARE TREASURES.

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Busy times.....

2010-06-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hello.... this is my new kitten, Minnie ....she just wanted to say hi (and I know my friend Dot is very keen to meet her)! Very sweet little girl. I have a lovely photo of her with her sister Mouse too which I will load next time. Busy times for me lately, lots to do, new people to meet, painting, stitching...its been fun, but I dont like the fact that I have been neglecting my blog. I must get back to my weekly post. It keeps me on track.

I am soooooo enjoying my online class with Jude Hill. I have been collecting vintage and recycled fabrics, ripping, weaving, stitching...all very addictive and very satisfying.

Remember this woven piece? Well I have been busy embellishing with stiching. My plan is that it will be part of my initial slow cloth, see snippet below.

I think it will fit very well with my existing block. I am working on a strip to go at the top of the cloth also and maybe some fancy tassels along the bottom????

As I said, busy catching up with people too. I was lucky enough to meet (and shop) with the lovely Natima whom I met via my online class.

Saturday morning Nat and I organised to meet with my lovely sister Lee to go for coffee/lunch and a visit to Ziguzagu, a warehouse that sells all things Japanese. Nat and I were in heaven...fabrics and goodies galore. Visit Lee and Nats blog to see more of the shop!

I found these wonderful old fabric prints in a box of text and books....absolutely gorgeous (I'm sure Eva if you visit my blog you will love these...Eva designs her own range of lovely fabrics). I just ADORED these old prints and bought seven in total which I am going to frame and hang in my home... what a find for a fabric lover!!!

fabric samples and swatches.

Ooops... sorry, put the same picture on twice. I have two more I will share at a later date.

Nat is so gorgeous and very generous. She arrived with a lovely gift for me....a beautiful furoshiko wrapping cloth that she had bought on a recent trip to Japan. Nat showed me how to tie to make a carry bag...I just love it and isnt the fabric fantastic (lined and everything) . I was tempted to cut it up and use it, but I love it too much as a bag.

We had a show and tell. Nat is prolific in her weaving of fabric for Jude's class and it was wonderful to see what someone else was doing too. Her work is amazing. Talk about talk.... I dont think we drew breath for hours. Isnt it lovely to catch up with like minded friends?

furoshiko wrapping cloth.

And below a few of my purchases ....

pieces of vintage kimono cloth.

All cloth is from kimono's that they unpick and sell at the warehouse. So much to choose from...

A Childrens kimono... pink with plum blossom on the outer with the vibrant orange and green lining. I will unpick this at some stage and use it in my quilts, but Nat thinks I should wear it a few times first. We'll see.

A lovely old indigo apron. I loved this design and how old and faded the fabric was.

An indigo curtain/flag that is to hang in a doorway. Lovely fine indigo cotton.

This weekend I plan to stay at home ....do some stitching and some painting. Painting, now that's another story (and some beautiful photos too). Last Friday I went back to Greg Irvine's studio in South Melbourne for a day of painting ...such fun, so beautiful!

I hope you are all well and busy creating. I will make sure I visit a few of my favourite blogs over the next few days too and get a bit more stitching done.

LIE

DOWN

BREATHE

DEEPLY

- SARK -

See you all again soon.

Jacky xox

fabric weaving and painting...

2010-05-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

Finally my computer is working again.... I have missed being able to visit my favourite blogs regularly. Plus I started an online course (and of course the computer was down!!!!). Nevertheless, I am back on track as of the weekend and was able to play around with the fabric weaving we are doing in my online class with Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth... I have loved visiting the class forum and seeing what everyone else has been up to in my absence.

Below is my first attempt at fabric weaving. I have used silks (dont know if that was a brilliant idea for my first attempt, but I am happy with how it turned out). Both silks I bought from Sensational Silks. The old gold colour was pre-dyed when I bought it, but the other grey colour is one I dyed myself with gum leaves and and a rusty piece of metal. Nice to see the woven effect created by these two pieces. fabric weaving in hand dyed silk

Within this piece I tried my hand at Jude's anchored weaving technique. Little bit fiddly with the silk, but I think it works in the overall look of this cloth. I am loving learning new techniques. At the moment this has only been basted, more stitching soon.

Some (very) late roses from my garden and some beautiful rosehips brightening up my lounge room. Isnt the colour gorgeous for autumn?

I have been doing some more painting too. Below is a mixed media piece I made for a girlfriend who loves birds. I have used watercolour paints and bits and pieces of fabric and stitching...both hand and machine stitching.

Kasha's Spring Bird.

Below is a watercolour of some pomegranates that I started in a watercolour workshop recently. I usually paint with gouache, but I am really enjoying how the watercolour takes to the paper. This is a WIP which I intend to finish for my sister who loves pomegranates....not much more to go.

"Your dreams are already coming true......your dreams need you to make them real."

-Sark-

Have a wonderfully creative week.

Jacky xox

Magic Clouds...

2010-05-02T04:44:00.000-07:00

I have been stitching some of Judes *Magic Clouds*. Jude often uses an Indonesian designed fabric which looks like clouds. I have used some of her magic thread to stitch some of those clouds onto my slow cloth. Also, visit Eva's blog, she has designed some of her own fabric range use her stylised clouds too. You may have to click on the photo's below to get a closer look, they are quite subtle.

Clouds in the night sky.

Journal page.

A few more quirky little houses that I popped in my journal . I love the different shapes and the wispy trees, I have also used them in my quilt.

I have been painting with gouache for while now, but I dont usually put photos on my blog.... but I just wanted to show that I have been doing something other than that tiny bit of stitching above!!!

A painting in my sketchbook from a studio morning at local artist Meg Abrechts home. Pomegranates are one of my favourite fruits...I love their jewelled red seeds.

Sorry there are two identical photos. A mistake when loading and I now I cant work out how to delete it!!!

I also did a water colour of pomegranates which I thought I had loaded, but alas, I had loaded the same photo twice. A little bit of Judes magic thread has appearedin this photo too..... how did that get in there?

And I'll leave you with this photo of a vase of lovely native Ficifolia blooms on my sisters dining table. Arent they beautiful? Lee always has beautiful flowers in her home.

Have a wonderful week......

"LET MIRACLES FIND YOU"

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Quietly progressing....

2010-04-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

Slowly does it....this is a particulary slow cloth, but I have managed to add some more fabric and some more stitching (click for closer look)...it is starting to flow a bit now. More stitching planned for the weekend. I have even added a few little wonky houses, houses are on my mind lately. So much inspiration from Jude Hill...note the layering of the fabrics. I dont have any sheer silks (yet!!!!) but have been working with what I have in my stash. Jude is running some wonderful online classes and yes, I'm signed up!

What a lovely surprise this week to receive a swap package from Mary Stanley of ArtSpirit in the mail. I just loved her owls and we decided to do a swap.... and now have my own "Woolly Owl". He is very dapper dont you think? He sits quietly chatting to a wee owl who is soon to fly overseas to a friend. Mary sent more wonderful goodies for me, but my photography this morning was not too good....everything was blurry when I checked it out tonight and too dark tonight take another. Maybe another time I will photograph them again.

Woolly owl by Mary Stanley.

I just love the art of Magaly Ohika of the Itsy Bitsy Spill and a little while back purchased this little set of painting (acrylic with charcoal on watercolour paper). I love the whimsy of her art. You should check out her blog, she is now making the most quirky and gorgeous pouchies....yes, have one on my 'wishlist'. Click on photo for a closer look.

I hope you have all had a lovely week!

TEACH LOVE,

FOR THAT IS

WHAT YOU ARE.

- GEORGE ELIOT -

Jacky xox

slowing down.....

2010-04-09T17:45:00.001-07:00

I hope you all had a lovely Easter.... mine was nice and quiet. A chance to slow down a bit and get a few things done around the house, catch up with friends and family.
My lovely sister Lee give me this beautiful bunny which she bought from Oxfam, filled with my favourites....turkish delight Easter Eggs. My mother used to give me little bunnies for Easter and now that she is gone, my sister is continuing the tradition. I LOVE this little fellow. Also knowing my addiction to fabric, and loving Indian designs, Lee also gave me a beautiful book...V&A Pattern Indian Florals and some lovely peppermint tea from T2 ...thank you Lee!

Look at the beautiful design on the bunny...I think I might have to sketch him for my journal. I will share some patterns from the book on my blog soon, they are beautiful. I have been sitting with a cup of peppermint tea and enjoying them.

Shibori Girl Fabrics.

I've also been adding to my stash of fabrics lately. I have a new obsession, indigo fabrics. I bought this Boro'd and Blue pack from Glennis Dolce of Shibori Girl. Beautiful hand dyed indigo fabrics...I just love the penny moon....so soft.

Orime fabrics.

And these beautiful japanese kimono fabrics came from an etsy shop called Orime. Such quality fabrics... cottons, wools and wonderful service. I feel a japanese inspired project coming up.

I've also done a little dyeing myself this week. These two pieces were dyed using the leaves/fronds from a wattle tree and a small amount of onion skins. The marks on either end of the piece on the right were made by the bull dog clip I used to hold it all together. I was really pleased with the colour saturation on the piece on the right (cotton). The fabric on the left is a silk, polyester blend, lovely subtle colouring.

Although I've been quiet, I have still managed a little journalling over Easter and found some lovely blogs with beautiful Easter posts to inspire me.

Oops... a spelling mistake...plumage.... oh well! One blog I found over Easter with some lovely prints was that of Kyoko Imazu which I have included some images on my journal pages. See the beautiful tree above and the rabbit print below. I love her work.

Live in the sunshine,

Swim in the sea,

Drink the wild air.

- Emmerson -

Enjoy your weekend.

Jacky xox

Journals, journalling, stitching....

2010-03-28T23:44:00.001-07:00

After a hectic couple of weeks, I have enjoyed stitching some little owls for friends (Nic the nose and eyes are all done now!!!!). This week they are flitting off to their new homes...I have a couple more to make for friends that are in my thoughts this week.... what a flock ????Is their such a thing as a flock of owls? I'm not sure if that's the correct terminology. Please feel free to let me know if it's not. A few close up photos of these little fellows.

I tried some additional little quilted wings on this one...he thinks he's a bit special.

You may remember from my last post that while the girls were visiting from Western Australia we did a journal class with Ro Bruhn (decorated papers and Journal making). Lots of fun, lots of laughter and lots of wonderful techniques!!!

Unfinished cover using Ro's plaster masking technique (fun!!!). I think I will seal the cover and I still need to add my raggedy fabric binding.

Internal pages using acrylic paints and inks, Ro's handmade stamps and so many other techniques we learnt. Amazing what you can find around the house to use in your journalling.

Can you tell I loved the Klimt patterned stamp????

And the onion houses as I call them!

I am nearly finished my moleskin journal and I think I will use this journal next for my daily scribbling and thoughts.

From Sark this week

OPEN ALL YOUR DOORS AND LET LOVE IN.

Easter coming up....lovely long break to celebrate this special time.

Take care......... Jacky xox

Treasure hunting.....

2010-03-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

I have had a wonderful week of fun and treasure hunting with three of art friends visiting from interstate. Shirl and Robyn from Western Australia and Jo Wholohan from Queensland. They were down for the annual art retreat run by Creative Soul....Before the retreat we decided to do a bit of a road trip and hunt down some art goodies.
Shirl and Robyn (who dont have blogs yet) arrived early in the week and so we three (plus some other lovely ladies) did a decorated papers and journal class with Ro Bruhn. Amazing day...we learnt so many great new techniques and we all had a finished, bound journal to take home. As per usual we were treated to some wonderful cullinary delight from Ro's lovely husband Steve. Thank you both for a fantastic day. Sorry I dont have any photo's, will take some of my journal this week.

Early morning street scene on the way to Camberwell Market.

The next day (Jo had arrived by this time) we were up bright and early to make an early start on the Camberwell Market. What a time we had ...... vintage fabrics and wares, books, linens, buttons. We were overwhelmed by the treasures to be had. I havent yet unpacked all of my finds, so there will be photos to come in the next few posts I am sure.

Lovely old accomodation in Castlemaine.

After Camberwell Market we headed out into the country to check out markets and shops. We visited the Castlemaine/Daylesford area and found many, many wonderful shops and bargains.

What a treasure trove The Restorers Barn is....this place was filled with old bits and pieces and we spent a looooong time fossicking around in this shop. I am sorry that when you zoom closer it isnt a great photo (I am hoping that Robyn who came with us has some much better photos I can share later...she had a fantastic camera and a wonderful eye for composition).

In Daylesford we found some great shops/markets selling vintage fabrics and wares. The above are two of my most favourite purchases...a vintage padded kimono (floral) which is in wonderful condition. This will be hanging in my home once I find the right place. The creamy fabric is a pair of old curtains with a ginko leaf pattern. It is a bit more gold in real life, the photo has brightened both pieces). They are both such luscious fabrics.

AND....above is my latest dyeing efforts drying on the line. Robyn who was visiting from Western Australia is a dyer and Jo and I really caught the bug. The piece on the left is an old linen napkin and the right is a piece of silk that I bought in my travels (more about that shop later). I wrapped the fabric around a piece of rusty old metal that I found down at the shed and then cooked up a pot of mixed eucalyptus leaves and placed them in to simmer for four or five hours. I was so excited when I unwrapped my packages. The silk took the dyes so well (and I cant wait to use it in my art). The linen was less exciting, but there is always a place for more muted colours I suppose. Click on the photo for a closer look...I am loving this natural dyeing and will try more next weekend. Onion skins methinks!

My pieces both dried. I was pleased the silk held the colour so well.

Its been a hectic, but wonderful week for me. Great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Learning new techiques, having fun! Thanks to my gorgeous sister Lee for putting my friends and I up over the week!

Hope you had a lovely week too.

And from Sark this week.... my card was simple (and appropriate after the big week).

*BREATHE*

Jacky xox

Bits and pieces.....

2010-03-10T01:10:00.000-08:00

What I'm really enjoying with this slow cloth is that I can just pick it up and stitch away whenever I have a moment...with limited time this week I have finished stitching my fabric onto my night sky (but there will be further stitching to come). I have started doing some random cross stitching on the beautiful dyed flannel. I think I will make some areas quite dense with cross stitches and others very sparse as I dont want to hide all the wonderful colours. I am using a beautiful variegated thread that is hand dyed by a local Gippsland lady. I am liking how the thread works with the wool flannel

I've also been stitching these two little fellows (as you can see a couple of WIP's, still a ways to go). I have made the taller version of my owls this time and I am thinking I might make a different set of wings for the other fellow...try something different.

I am still doing some 10minute collages (although not as often as I was) and it is 'surprising' what appeals to you some days as flick through old magazines. Click to enlarge.

I was really taken with the quote from Barack Obama:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

We are the change that we seek."

Very wise words.

Well I am off on a road trip this week! Looking forward to it with great anticipation. I have a couple of friends coming from interstate for an annual Art Retreat get together. They are flying in a bit early to do a class with the lovely Ro Bruhn on Saturday and then Sunday we plan to go to the Camberwell market .... I am hoping to find some old fabrics or linens. And afterwards we are off to Castlemaine / Daylesford area for a bit of sightseeing, shopping and relaxation for two days. Wonderful galleries, shops and spa's.

Wednesday is the beginning of the Art Retreat, so I will drop the girls off (I am not doing the retreat this year). Myself and couple of other friends are going along for the vendors night and dinner so I will get to catch up with some friends I have made over the years.

Back next week...so meantime I hope you all have a busy creative time while I am away.

Jacky xox

Slow and steady....

2010-03-03T00:41:00.001-08:00

Well mine is definately a slow cloth....I have been playing around with fabrics, stitching and I've been visiting blogs and getting lots of inspiration. I've added a few more fabric elements, some tie dyed chiffon to make a night sky, a maize coloured thread overlayed with organza as a halo'd moon and a beautiful scrap of hand dyed wool (given to me by the talented and lovely Elizabeth Armstrong when I did one of her classes). I think it fits the piece well and its lovely to use fabrics gifted to you...nice to look at them remember your friends and good times.

I'm enjoying the hand stitching, it gives you lots of time for thought in this busy world.

Below is a close up of the night sky and the moon with its halo. I have grown very fond of moons thanks to Jude Hill and her many moons.

A closer view of the lovely hand dyed wool from Elizabeth at Studio Felter. Isnt it luscious?

As I said in my previous post, some wonderful gifts of late....this beautiful embellished bird made by my talented art buddy, Dot Christian. I received this after Christmas and thought you might like to see a picture. Visit Dots etsy shop to see these and other beautiful fabric pieces she created. I love the sari silks she has used in my Ruby Red bird.

I recently did a swap with fellow owl lover Debrina! Received this lovely "Mother Owl" fabric hanging...sorry the photo isnt clearer, but if you click on it you might see the beautiful fabric and ribbon she has used and the machine stitching. For a clearer photo visit Debrina's blog.

Also received this beautiful owl thimble below. I think he looks rather nice perched there with my little collection of dolls and bits and bobs. He's a bit large my finger, so I think this is where he will be living.

Well, the days must be getting longer over the side of the world as they are getting shorter over here....6am and its dark now. Still not getting dark at night until after 8pm, but that will change soon when daylight savings finishes.

I hope you had a wonderful week!

LET YOUR DREAMS LEAD THE WAY

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Tentative stitching...

2010-02-23T03:41:00.000-08:00

I have been 'feeling my way', a little bit of tentative stitching on the beginnings of my slow cloth. I'm finding I'm dithering a lot, probably overthinking the process. I think for me doing this cloth will be a lot about trial and error. About allowing the quilt to evolve (rather than being pre-planned to the n'th degree). I have done a little more stitching already this week, so next week should show more progress...I want to add more fabric elements. snippet of some stitching.

I am enjoying my journalling....I love this page for its simplicity.

It has been a wonderful week for art mail...I have received a couple of pieces I bought online recently and also from a swap with a fellow owl lover. I will share some photos next post.

YOU ARE SUBLIMELY, EXACTLY, HOW YOU NEED TO BE AT THIS MOMENT.

-SARK-

Enjoy your week!

Jacky xox

Congratulations Tara....

2010-02-16T03:16:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Tara of Aquamarineart Blog...you are the winner of my giveaway! Please contact me with your mailing details and whether you would like a Klimt Doll or a Kaffe Fasset Owl.
My email address is jacky_wllms@yahoo.com.au Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you so much to everyone who took part and left comments.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentines Day....This little cake was very, very yummy!

Above Tags & Cards from swap partner, Kris Henderson.

The above are yummy cards and tags that I received from the very generous Kris Henderson as part of one of the Paper Swaps run by Lawendula. Some wonderful, wonderful cards here....so many lovely images, cant wait to use them in my journals and art. I love the birds and all of the numbers...lots of inspiration here, thank you Kris!

And the lovelies above were from another paper swap run by Lawendula from my swap partner Tammy Sprinkle. Truly I am spoilt for choice now for my art...these papers are just beautiful and lots of lovely little tags and embellishments for my art. Stamps, snippets from magazines, beautiful french text... these are great swaps.

Each month Lawendula (Franca) runs a paper swap so pop by her blog and play along...its such fun receiving papers from all around the world for your art and not expensive to mail!!!

LOVE IMPERFECTLY

-SARK-

Take care all..... Jacky xox

100th post.....

2010-02-07T23:05:00.001-08:00

My 100th post....that deserves a Give Away methinks!!! I cant believe I have been blogging for 2 years now (yes its taken me that long to get to my 100th post!!!). Please leave a comment (making sure I can contact you) if you would like to go in the draw for my one of my Wee Owls or maybe a Klimt Doll - the choice will be yours. I will announce the winner in my next post which will be in a weeks time.

Meanwhile, some *slow* progress on my slow cloth... Since my last post it has grown from 61/2 inches to approx. 15 inches. Our life revolves around horses so I thought for my first block I should include a horse image. I've been playing around with placement...not sure if I'm happy yet. The triangles (trees) are offcuts from a quilt for my son, but I am not sure about them yet. I will play a little more before I stitch anything down - it could look completely different next time you see it! I have been carving some stamps again. Below a couple of little owls.

And below another little owl who is winging his way over the Tasman.

The weather has been quite strange...maybe that is why I have been feeling a bit unsettled lately...a reflection of my environment?

An eerie but beautiful dusk.

The colours were just beautiful, but only lasted a short time. Click the photos for a closer look.

Have a wonderful, creative week.

"PLAY OUTSIDE MORE OFTEN"

-SARK-

Jacky xox

Bedraggled.....

2010-01-27T00:22:00.001-08:00

I have had visitors staying with us since early December and my last visitors left today.....I loved having them stay, but I am sooooo looking forward to some family time and some me time again. Play with my paints, do some stitching and some knitting.....

Hidden Among Trees by Ton Schulten (Dutch artist).

Last year I ordered a book of the art of Ton Schulten. I saw some of his work when doing a class with Elizabeth Armstrong and was instantly drawn to it. The wonderful colours, the blocks of colour and that almost patchwork look (something I am always drawn too).

How exciting....it arrived in the post last week. I just love it!!!!

I have embarked on a slow quilt project this year. I am continually inspired by the work of Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth. Take a visit and see her wonderful story quilts and slow cloths....I love to visit, it really nourishes my creative soul. I think my quilt will be inspired by the art of Ton Schulten, Jude Hill and Lynne Hoppe. Throughout the year I will post some pictures of how it is 'slowly' progressing.

I am still enjoying my journalling (although I dont journal as regularly as I plan). I am also using the journal to record thoughts and ideas for my quilt as well as life in general. I love to record everyday life and try and include some of my doodles and drawings...usually done while visiting blogs or taking phone calls.

And this (below).... this is the 'beginning' on my slow cloth....the little nine patch is my start! I found it difficult to actually just start the quilt. I think maybe I overplan, overthink everything. I had been jotting down ideas etc. for the past year....

Sooo.... I just decided to grab some fabrics that I had in my sewing basket near my chair and just make a nine patch. At least then I had made a beginning. I know it will be a slow journey and I am looking forward to that, that there will be no pressure, just enjoy the stitching.

And.... look at the lovely new neo color crayons I bought last weekend... they are my absolute favourite art supply I think! I just love adding to my little collection of colours.

My sister Lee had given me a voucher to an art supply shop in Melbourne for Christmas and it was burning a whole in my pocket. So, Saturday we decided to have a girls day out.... a beautiful lunch and then off for art supplies. I came home with my beautiful crayons, some lovely Dutch gouache and some lovely water colour paper. I felt very spoilt and loved. Thank you Lee, we always have such a wonderful time together!

Anyways......I hope you have all had a wonderful January.

Inside the book

between the lines.

Was a place to rest

and absorb the magic.

-Sark-

Jacky xox

Bliss .....

2010-01-17T21:57:00.000-08:00

While my mother in law was staying with us over Christmas, we took a week down at Lakes Entrance staying at a friends holiday house......BLISS. We had 180 degree views of the lakes and the ocean from our huge balcony and the most perfect weather. Not too hot, not too cold....25-30 celcius each day. We sat out on our balcony or at the big table sketching and painting. We dined out at local eateries on fresh seafood.....many visits to the co-op to pick up prawns, oysters, fish freshly caught that morning and we *shopped*. It was lovely to go to sleep each night listening to the sound of the ocean and watching the fishing boats coming and going. View from our balcony overlooking the golf course, lake entrance and the ocean.

View from another angle. The home is called "The Crows Nest" and the views were fantastic.

I have taken other photos of the lovely sunsets from our balcony in the evenings, but somehow messed up while downloading them....will try again soon and show you some more.

Eastern Beach entrance. Norma and I didnt get to walk along the beaches much as she has lung issues....but here's a glimpse. My husband and I are going to try and get back their in the next few weeks as I want to walk along the beaches and find sea glass, shells, pieces of driftwood and all of those lovely treasures that the sea brings forth.

Remember this little fellow? He has been named Grunchen by my little art friend Svea in Germany.

He has arrived.....the above photo, thanks to Lawendula , is of Grunchen in his new home. You must visit Lawendula's blog to see what her daughter Svea has made for Grunchen to keep him warm in his new abode....check out her flickr photos to see his sweet little sleeping bag. He is "loved", I am very happy!

I am hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I am looking forward to this bright New Year.....

Sing a song of surrender.

Leave your bags.

Lift your self up.

- Sark -

Enjoy your week.

Jacky xox

Full moon...New Year....

2010-01-02T23:37:00.001-08:00

The New Year is upon us already.... how time seems to fly these days! I havent been very busy stitching over the Christmas and New Year ... too much socialising and preparations. I have had my MIL staying the past two weeks, and she will be with for another couple of weeks so we have been out and about too. The only thing I have done is this little owl which is now winging its way to Europe to a young artist that I know loves owls...hope she likes this little fellow.

I havent really made any New Years Resolutions as such. I will keep it simple, I am just going to try and be positive and happy.... I think good things happen when you are! I have made lists other years with such good intentions, but I get a bit overwhelmed and it goes by the wayside.

Thank you so much to the wonderful friends I have made through this blog and my art ... your visits, comments and friendship are so very much appreciated. I look forward to visiting your blogs throughout the New Year and look forward to the friendship and inspiration I always receive.

"And now let us believe in the New Year that is given us ...new, untouched, full of things that have never been."

-Rainer Maria Rilke -

Wishing you all a year filled with love, peace, happiness and joy!

Jacky xox

Spirit of Christmas....

2009-12-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy I have neglected my poor old blog.... I have been doing some art though for Christmas gifts. Below is a stamp that I carved for my Christmas tags and Christmas cards.

Plain tags without the background and my handcarved stamp.

I have been receiving some lovely comments, cards, handmade gifts and emails with Christmas wishes from many of you out there in blogland ....you are very generous and I really appreciate your friendship and thoughtfulness. I can feel the Christmas Spirit is alive and well.

I wish you all a Wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends and I hope that the New Year is filled with Peace, Happiness and good Health.

"Somehow, not only for Christmas, but all year through, the joy you give to others is the joy that comes back to you."

- John Greenleaf Whittier-

Wishing you much JOY at Christmas and always.

Jacky xox

Sensory Overload...

2009-12-04T00:33:00.000-08:00

My Friday morning art group recently had a visit to the studio of artist Greg Irvine in South Melbourne. His home is soooooooo awesome - a visual feast. Little still lifes presenting themselves everywhere. I would have loved to take some photos of his home, full of antiques and amazing bric-a-brac not to mention his wonderful art. Lucky for us he is currently preparing for an exhibition and we were able to see 12-15 of his latest pieces for the exhibition. Such wonderful detail and colour. I cant wait for the exhibition now!!! Meg, Coral and Maz all painted in the indoor studio, whilst Josie and I opted for the little outside studio.

Below are photos of the girls from my art group, Gregs home and some of our art. Still life indoor studio.
Maz (in red), Greg and Meg...busy at it! See the snippet of one of his current works in the background. They are huge and so much detail!!!

Megs WIP.

Still life in outside studio.

Josie and myself opted to work in Gregs outside studio...again filled with wonderful bits and pieces and glorious colour and shapes. The above was our still life for the day.

Peeping through the red door into the outside studio. My WIP is in the foreground and Josies behind. We had such a wonderful time and I have never painted so *big*. Scary, but I loved it!!!

Closer view of our painting in progress. Check out those colourful palettes along the window.

And what bliss to eat our lunch in his mosaic garden (I thought I was in Barcelona) and to eat off these gorgeous tables that Greg had painted. Click for a closer look. Greg and his son built this mosaic garden from crockery they salvaged when they were working on Albert Park Lake in Melbourne. Everywhere you looked...colour and beauty. I wanted to come home and mosaic my back steps...needless to say that hasnt happened!

And these are the girls.
We partook of a coffee and pastry before we went to the studio.

This gorgeous old facade was directly opposite the cafe...what a view.

We girls had the most amazing day and we are going to go back and paint with Greg again in Febuary...hope I have my painting finished...he hee!

Christmas is not far away now... last weekend my sister and I visited Malvern to check out the Christmas Market. I loved the beautiful wreath at the front of the Town Hall. "Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......" Lots of wonderful handmade goods to be had.

Some little Festive Hearts I have made for art friends.

Give away from the blog of Marilyn Rock.

I was sooo lucky recently to win a Give Away hosted by the lovely Marilyn Rock. What a wonderful suprise when it arrived in the mail. The book, Nature Inspired, is fantastic...I truly have been inspired by the lovely art within. If you can get your hands on a copy it is a beautiful book and one I am sure I will look at again and again.

Also received these beautiful handmade papers...watch out journal...I think a few of these will be finding their way into my current journals. Thank you Marilyn! I also won a beautiful bag from Parisa in Tehran...I need to take a good photo to show you...I will get that organised for my next post. I've been very lucky lately. Thank you to all of you wonderful fellow bloggers.

I also received these lovely tags from Debbi of Vintage Moon. More wonderful images and goodies for my journals. We both took part in the tag swap hosted by Lawendula. In January Lawendula will host a card swap... visit her blog if you would like to play along.

Its been a long one hasnt it? so much news to tell you all.

Of course I must leave you with some Sark...

Wake up to see the other souls around you.

Let them affect you.

Live in the center of your life.

Take care and have a happy week!

Jacky xox

Awash with art (and rain)....

2009-11-21T23:34:00.001-08:00

I have had a wonderful, artfilled weekend. On saturday my sister Lee and a girlfriend Jen went into Melbourne to see the Cressida Campbell Exhibition at the Sophie Gannon Gallery...a must see if you live in Melbourne! Beautiful woodcuts and woodcut prints ...we were all in awe of her wonderful art (photos are at the bottom of this post...blogger putting photo on in reverse order today!). Banner made from mixed media tags.

I have been doing a little art of my own though. I am taking part in a tag swap being hosted by Lawendula and this litle banner was part of the package I sent. The little white christmas trees are gorgeous little porcelain ornaments from Denmark. I thought it might look nice strung up for Christmas.

Gertrude St. Fitzroy.

I love my trips into Melbourne to visit my sister. We always visit the best shops. On our list for the day was Artisan Books. We spent quite a while perusing all of their wonderful books. I left with the latest edition of Selvedge and Cloth Paper Scissors (and quite a few ideas for my Christmas list).

Fitzroy Library and Town Hall (hope you all enjoy the streetscenes and architecture of Melbourne as much as I do).

From Gertrude Street we walk around to Neil Wallace Art Supplies and came across this lovely old building. I enjoyed the Art Supplies and stocked up on a few Sennellier oil pastels, gold leaf paint, a woodworking tool (want to have a play with woodcuts!). Such an Aladdins Cave...I could have stayed for hours. Definately another trip needed in before their Sale finishes.

Jenni (left) and my sister Lee on the steps of the library.
They are so patient with me and my art fetish.

Amazing street art in one of the back streets. So much fantastic street art adorning the streets of Fitzroy! (click for closer look)

View from the cafe window, looking down Brunswick Rd.

After the art supplies were all bought we headed off for a coffee before heading back to the car. I love this area!

And now for the stunning art.

These first two pics. are by Judy Drew. We were going to visit this exhibition also, but found it was closed on Saturday.... drat! I so wanted to see her work in person. You never know. I might get a chance to get back in to Melbourne to the Melbourne Fine Art Studio before it finishes. Check out the link to see more of her work.

Woman in Gold Satin Gown - Judy Drew
Pastel

Still Life with Patterns - Judy Drew
Pastel

Daisies and Camellias - Cressida Campbell.

Apple - Cressida Campbell

Interior with Red Ginger - Cressida Campbell.

As you can see. We were immersed in some wonderful art and all came away feeling uplifted by the beauty of it. Check out this link to see more of Cressida's art...Sophie Gannon Gallery

Sorry its such a long one today... just so much to show you. I hope you will click on the links and visit the sites to see more of the work of these two amazing Australian Artists. And now from Sark...

You are enough

You have enough

You do enough

Have a great week.

Jacky xox

Journalling fun & games...

2009-11-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun on Saturday doing the Junk Journal workshop with Ro Bruhn. I have been wanting to learn the technique that Ro uses for her amazing journal covers for ages and the time had come. Loved this technique of layering and stencilling. These covers were FUN to make. Covers for my Junk Journal...unfinished as I have yet to paint & embellish the spine. I am looking forward to playing around with this technique again...so many possibilities.

These were two of the inside signatures I made using the stencil made for the covers. Rather patchy and blotchy at the moment, but these will be painted/embellished even more. Will show you again when they are finished.

I was in klutz mode though when it came to the binding of the signatures....luckily Ro is a very patient person and gave much assistance...we laughed until I had tears streaming down my face.

As always a lovely, personal class at Ro's and we are very lucky to have Steve feeding us the most amazing food all day...his Passionfruit Panecotta with honeycomb crumble was to die for. I think Ro should do a book of her wonderful art and techniques with Steves yummy recipes in it too!!! They are a great team.

Two cheeky owls...the one on the left belongs to my friend Dot and the other little fellow is for an Art Exchange swap.

Pages for Altered Book Round Robin. The theme is still life so I have been incorporating some still life sketches/paintings with my collage mixed/mediawork.

Another spread for Samm's Altered Book. A still life of a lovely little asian cup and saucer given to me by my dear friend Jenni.

Meet my muse! This little fellow was made by Elizabeth Armstrong...I just love the quirkiness and brightness of him. He will live in my art room and watchover my *art play*. The gorgeous fabric in the background was from my art buddy Dot...a friend of Dots from work recently visited India and Dot organised him to bring back some truly scrumptious sari silks for us! What a treat!

Another wonderful week... lots of colour and friendship!

I am still enjoying Sark, so here is this weeks quote :-

You are seen

You are known

You are loved

Take care all and have a creative week.

Jacky xox

Ruby Red and Black Schwarovsky....

2009-10-31T01:06:00.000-07:00

Will you look at the Ruby redness of this gorgeous bird that my art buddy Dot gifted me last weekend....isnt she gorgeous!!! Click for a closer look at the luscious sari silks and beautiful beading. I just love the scrumptious fabrics....thank you Dotee. Another wonderful gift! I recently won a giveaway on the blog of the lovely Lisa. The packaging was so beautiful and elegant.... giving a hint to what is inside!

These amazing handcrafted sterling silver and black schwarovsky crystal earrings. The quality and craftmanship is truly amazing, such a clever woman. I have a new velvet/silk vintage jacket I recently purchased and these will go perfectly for an evening out. Beautiful, beautiful earrings....pop over to Lisa's blog to see more intricate jewellery she has been crafting.

And also with the package this beautiful velour/cotton yarn and a pattern for knitted face cloths...such a luxurious yarn. I will enjoy knitting this up. I have really rekindled my love of knitting (plain basic knitting is all I am capable of though). It will be lovely to have a hand knitted face cloth in my bathrooms.

Last Saturday was spent with my art buddy Dot at the farm. We decided rather than just lunch and chat.... we can spend hours that way, that we would actually make some more felt...we just love the process.

This jewel toned piece was my effort for the day. Dot supplied the lovely red silk backing fabric and between us we got together these rovings. I was happy with this spring coloured piece. It reminds me of the riot of colours in peoples gardens at the moment.

I've also been sketching and painting. The above sketch is awaiting some paint as it is part of an altered book round robin I'm part of. My pages have an asian theme and the theme of the book was still life. I am going to work on my perspective, but absolutely loving still life.

The Sark quote for this week.....

"All your dreams are already coming true."

Wishing you all a week where dreams come true.

Jacky xox

An October Owl .....

2009-10-21T01:26:00.001-07:00

I have busy a stitching again..... I have missed it! This a little "October Owl" that I have just finished to send to a blogging friend overseas. As you can see, they are quite small these little fellows.....he sits atop a cotton reel. I do make a larger size too, but this is the little owlet. I love things in miniature. These are a few pages from my 10 minute collage journal... I like to share some of these with you all from time to time. I love these quick collages, I find them very satisfying, and I love to ponder why I might have chosen the images or words each day.

Page from 10 minute collage journal.

Another.....

The above were just a few images that I wanted to keep in my journal. Not exactly a 10 minute collage, but they were all appealing and I wanted to keep them for later reference.

I am enjoying Sark at the moment, so thought I would share some with you all.

Let's share outrageous stories and eat impossibly delicious cake.

- Sark-

I love this quote...it reminds me of the days I spend in the company of my girfriends .... fun and decadent! So lovely to sit with a girlfriend/girlfriends and share a coffee and some beautiful cake.

Jacky xox

Clear and sunny ......

2009-10-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

Firstly some photos of pages I recently completed for an Altered Book Round Robin I am taking part in. The pages for this book are quite small, a little larger than ATC size. The theme was trees/forest/nature. This is the first page with a collaged image of a painted parrot (I'm sorry I dont know who the artist was....). We are being visited by many parrots of late so I thought it appropriate.
In this second spread I have used images of trees found in an agricultural newspaper with painted and collaged background.

Any my final page a Spring Spirit...imagining the buds opening and the leaves unfurling with the warmth of the Spring sunshine.

Today whilst checking out some of my favourite blogs I noticed the tree outside my kitchen window was full of grass parrots (thats what I call them). As I snuck up to the window most of them flew away, but I did catch this fellow for you before he took off too. You will have to click on the photo to get a closer look at him. They are very colourful.

The reason they are all around the house and in the trees is the Cape Weed (see pic. below). Our hills are covered in cape weed this year...this hasnt happened for nearly 20 years. It must be the season for it. Luckily the cattle dont mind the cape weed and will quite happily eat it...cant say the same for the horses though!

Close up of cape weed....all the parrots were ferreting around for hours out there today (so I kept the kitties inside for the day).

Meanwhile...whilst everyone was enjoying the sunshine I came in to find Leroy curled up snoozing on the couch. He very nearly takes up the whole couch all 40kg's of him. He's such a big sook.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend, having some quality time! I am going to work in another altered book and do a bit of journalling. I will leave you with this quote from Sark, and maybe you will want to journal too.

"The Book of your Life is rare and marvellous.

Write your life so that others may be illuminated."

- Sark -

Sending health and happiness to all.

Jacky xox

Home again, home again ......

2009-09-30T03:59:00.001-07:00

It's lovely to be home again.... I have been away visiting my mother in law in Dubbo, central New South Wales. Over the next few months Norma will be having treatments so there will be a few trips over the coming months. Norma is a very artistic woman, so we had a lovely time together. So if I'm away from my blog here and there.... I will only be visiting with Norma. Spring tulips and freesias.

We are having some wonderful spring weather down here in Australia (and some very wet and windy days too). Just wanted to share these beautiful springs blooms with all my blogging friends...I took this photo in one of my still life classes. So beautiful, I can just about smell them looking at this picture again.

I havent been creating this past week or so, so I thought I would share this photo of the very first art doll I made for a swap about 2 years ago (my friend Dot owns this little girl). The theme for my doll was spring so I thought she needed a showing this spring. She is a pretty wild girl with that hair and her little crocheted scarf. Lovely to look back....

I hope you are all enjoying this mild season (whether it be spring in our hemisphere or autumn the other side of the world).

Sending lots of love to all.

Jacky xox

Just journalling...

2009-09-18T01:10:00.001-07:00

Well there's been no stitching happening this past week.... most unusual in my household of late. I have been doing quite a bit in my journal though, so thought I would share some of my pages with you. Below is an Angel I painted with acrylics (inspired by the art of the lovely Lynne Hoppe). As you can see by the page on the left, I am still enjoying doing my 10 minute collages (a la Shelley Klammer). I just love these quick little collages, they are a great start to the day.

Also from Lynne blog one of her lovely quotes that I had to include in my journal. I loved this painting by Kristin Vestgard titled "sisters", thanks Carolyn for the link to her wonderful art.

Another of my 10 minute collages.

And... another. Birds seem to be featuring quite a lot lately????

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and this milder weather Spring/Autumn is conducive to your creativity.

Jacky xox

Knitting and Socialising....

2009-09-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

My week away from work has been pure bliss! Gorgeous Spring weather and lots of catching up with friends.

I started the weekend with my art group get together which was at Ro's home this time. Must say that day the weather was dreadful and I arrived looking like a drenched rat after getting caught in a downpour between the car and the house!!! Didnt dampen my spirits at all... Ro's home was warm and inviting and once we girls got chatting/eating, the time just flew. We share many ideas and little gifts and love being in each others company.Knitted scarves a la lesson from Sue Trytell.

Whilst at Ro's, Patsy, another member of our art group invited me along to a knitting group with her friends in Beaumaris.... what a fabulous night. Wonderful group of girls/artists, the room just buzzed all night. My sister Lee came along who has never been able to knit a stitch in her life.....would you believe they taught her to knit...she is hooked! A very lovely lady, Sue, taught me a new stitch (above) ...I have now made two new scarves for friends!

High Street Armadale.

I spenta couple of days in Melbourne with my sister Lee and we visited many wonderful shops (and eateries.... we do love our food!). One of our favourite haunts is High St. Armadale. Took the above photo as we were driving by...beautiful old architecture.

Lee always feed my fabric addiction and took me along to a couple of our favourite fabric shops. I came home with a nice little selection of liberty prints...I've had them our playing, seeing how they mix with other fabrics from my stash...I think they will do fine. I have a few new Klimt Dolls in mind for these.

The above little Spring Bird I stitched for a swap in one of my Yahoo Swaps. He is stitched onto a piece of linen and I thought she could either pop him in frame or include him in a journal. The idea of the little bird came from some fabric my sister recently gave me from Ikea... so many more cute birdies to make.

I am also taking part in an Altered Book Round Robin and the above page was made for Debbi B. The theme for her book was Affirmations/Quotes.

Another page for Debbi's book. This time incorporating some fabric and lace (just cant help but put some fabric somewhere!!!)

And look at the gorgeous new Amelia doll that my dear friend Dot recently gifted me....very bejewelled and beautiful. I just love her sunshiny/spring colours. Upon her knee is another gift I recently received from Dot that she purchased from this Etsy shop, a seedling!!! Isnt he just the cheekiest. I fear Amelia my have a job on her hands keeping this little fellow in line.

I hope you have all had a wonderful week ..... I have had such a lovely time off this week, it has done my soul good.

Sending you all some Spring Sunshine!

Jacky xox